FCC and Internet Regulation: “Lobbyists on Both Sides Are Already Shopping for New Vacation Houses in Aspen”

Michael Giberson

From Regulation 2.0:

Frustrated by a federal appeals court ruling that the FCC had no authority to second-guess Comcast’s treatment of customers and under pressure from the Obama Administration to impose a net neutrality regime (whatever that truly means) on the broadband industry, FCC Chair Julius Genachowski is now asserting the commission’s right to regulate Internet access providers under the ancient rules that govern telephone landlines.

We don’t know whether Congress will let the FCC get away with it – lobbyists on both sides are already shopping for new vacation houses in Aspen — or what the commission would actually do with the authority if it wins the political battle.   But we do know this is very bad news for those who fear that the uncertainty will slow both the expansion of Internet capacity and the pace of innovation.

Links in original, of which this is just an excerpt. The whole thing is short; read it to see why “the specifics of this issue make it especially troubling.”