Intellectual Property Law

The FCC and Regulatory Capture

By richard

Earlier this month, Internet users welcomed the FCC's ruling against Comcast for interfering with BitTorrent uploads, celebrating the action as a victory for net neutrality. Reigning in Comcast's dishonest behavior was the right thing to do in this case, but many observers are worried that the FCC is establishing a dangerous habit of interfering with the Internet, especially since the FCC has a spotty history when it comes to serving the public.

For those looking for more background, a great panel discussion/podcast from the Technology Liberation Front explores the series of decisions that brought the FCC to the forefront of the net neutrality debate and covers why those decisions are unprecedented. Commenting on the FCC's action, law professor Susan Crawford writes:

The [FCC] is in completely uncharted waters, using this idea of 'ancillary authority' to carry out whatever it feels like. [...] Although in the short term condemning Comcast is certainly a good idea, the notion that case-by-case, wholly discretionary adjudications like this one are possibly a good idea for all aspects of internet policy is nuts.

But it is technology scholar and journalist David Robinson who reaches the root of the problem looming beyond the horizon: "[The Comcast decision] also preserves the Commission's ability to make bad choices in the future, especially if diminished public interest in the issue increases the odds of regulatory capture."

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Full post as published by Electronic Freedom Foundation - Deep Links on August 20, 2008 (boomark / email).