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Most Recent PostsChallenging the FCC Over Re-Classification
There were some fireworks during yesterday’s appearance of the full FCC before the House Energy and Commerce’s subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Brendan Sasso of The Hill reports:
Republican lawmakers on Tuesday accused Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski of hypocrisy for opposing international efforts to regulate the Internet but leaving his own agency the power to do so.
At a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce’s subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) pressed Genachowksi on whether he will close the commission’s docket to re-classify the Internet as a “telecommunications service” under Title II of the Communications Act. Currently, the FCC considers the Internet an “information service,” but the agency has much broader authority to regulate the telecommunications industry.
The FCC’s docket on whether to re-classify the Internet has been open since 2009, but the agency has not taken any action.
According to Sasso, Chairman Genachowski responded the Commission was still in the process of gathering public comments about the re-classification docket.
