Courtesy/networkingaudiovideo.com

By Bill Rife

The Federal Communications Commission is again trying to seize control of the Internet! FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski , an Obama political appointee and the President’s classmate at Harvard Law, earlier this month announced his intent to implement all-embracing  regulations of Internet network management, euphemistically called “net neutrality.” This policy would allow the FCC to dictate how Internet providers are allowed to offer their services and do business subject to the same federal supervision the telephone industry was in the last century. This could be the most outrageous Washington power grab since FDR’s attempt to pack the Supreme Court.

The lack of a “controlling authority” over the Web is galling to some in this administration. The Internet is classified as an “information service” and, as such, is less rigidly controlled than telecom industry. It thrives on freedom and has been “open” since it evolved from the Advanced Research Planning Agency (ARPA) over 20 years ago. The freedom to operate under relatively few government constraints has triggered an unprecedented bonanza of hi-tech innovation, capital investment and revolutionized communications world-wide. Laissez-faire is doing just fine with the Web, thank you.

But this does not sit well at the FCC. In 2008, the Democrat-majority Commission tried to expand its authority when it proclaimed that Comcast had violated neutrality rules. This April, a federal court struck down the FCC claim, ruling that it had no jurisdiction under the law. “Then in May,” the Heritage Foundation reports, “when the FCC flirted with another set of neutrality rules, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle stepped in and told the FCC to cease and desist until Congress took action. And now, after a failed attempt by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)to muster up net neutrality legislation in the House, the FCC is back for another bite of the apple and is ready to grant itself the power to rule.”

Never mind that a federal court ruled that the FCC has no power to regulate the Internet, or that the European Commission and even the Obama Justice Department “both decided this year that the net-neutrality regulation was unnecessary and might deter investment in next-generation Internet technology and infrastructure.”  Undaunted, Genachowski and his minions continue their unholy pursuit with beady-eyed determination.

IF IT AIN’T BROKE.......! Robert McDowell, a minority Republican FCC Commissioner who voted against net neutrality, writes in the Wall Street Journal:   “Net neutrality sounds nice, but the Web is working fine now. The new rules will inhibit investment, deter innovation and create a billable-hour bonanza for lawyers.” He continues, “Nothing is broken that needs fixing, however. The Internet has been freedom-enhancing since it spun off from a government  research project in the early 1990s.  Ample laws to protect consumers already exist.”

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) maintains, “The FCC is shortsightedly ignoring the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) who already has sufficient rules in place to contain bad behavior in the virtual marketplace the FCC seems so worried about.”

The Heritage Foundation’s James Gattuso adds, “The net result [of net neutrality]-a slower and more congested Internet, and more frustration for users. Even worse, investment in expanding the Internet will be chilled, as FCC control of network management makes investment less inviting. The amounts at stake aren’t trivial, with tens of billions invested each year in Internet expansion.”

Net neutrality is far more than a run-of-the-mill Washington power grab. Rep. Blackburn maintains, “What the FCC would do today is the Fairness Doctrine for the Internet and force people to come to them,” she said December 21 at The Heritage Foundation. “They would have determination of what could be innovated. They would have the determination of what should be the priority and value assigned to all the content that is traveling.”

The original fairness doctrine  was a petulant liberal reaction to the spectacular success of conservative talk radio, and the concept of a fairness doctrine for the Internet has irresistible appeal to lefty control freaks. Cass Sunstein, Obama’s nominee for Regulatory Czar, has advocated “electronic sidewalks” and “civility checks” which would monitor the content of personal emails. Big Brother knows what’s best for us.

In a far broader context, the FCC’s Internet grab is yet further evidence of runaway government expansion. In less than two years of the Obama administration has assumed ownership of banks, automobile companies, Wall Street, insurance companies and intends to control the health care and energy sectors of the economy. Sound familiar? What next?

Something be said for Big Brother. Mussolini allegedly got the trains running on time.