The Energon Pub

Net Neutrality a Dead Issue?
June 14, 2010

Republican and Democrat members of Congress alike recently came out against allowing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reclassify broadband as a telephone service, which would give the FCC power to regulate it. Combined with a looming August recess for lawmakers, Supreme Court nominee hearings and November elections, net neutrality is now a withering issue that’s far down on the list of just about all participants involved.

This merger of circumstances led the author of an eWeek column to term net neutrality as “basically dead,” at least for the time being. Any bid by the FCC to reclassify broadband was termed “political suicide,” meaning that that the organization would have to wait for Congress to new legislation can be implemented.

One scenario that could get net neutrality moving again:

It’s possible that someone could insert language supporting the FCC’s efforts into some other bill, and that it would make it through the conference committee and into law, but it’s a very long shot.

According to the columnist, the best hope now for net neutrality might be the free market, in which consumers gravitate towards ISPs with the most flexible service options. In regards to this scenario it was offered, “Just don’t expect it to happen overnight.”

The reality is that the FCC took its best shot at exerting authority over the Internet and lost big. Right now, if Comcast wants to limit you from using file sharing software, it can. It can even make Google off limits, slow YouTube to a trickle, and prevent you from watching shows on network sites such as Hulu instead of its own sites for which it can charge.