| The FCC never had authority to mandate "Net Neutrality" In its Comcast ruling, the FCC had to split a paragraph, leaving out a statement by Congress that the Internet should remain "free of Federal or state regulation," to make a weak, tortured argument that it had the authority to regulate the Internet. The judges -- bully for them! -- are seeing through this. The FCC has the ability to regulate the underlying telecommunications services which are used to deliver Internet service, but not Internet service itself (which is a data service). Thus, the FCC could cry foul about the issue of "special access" price gouging (which is, indeed, a serious problem) -- and, in fact, should. But it doesn't have the right to tell ISPs how to manage their networks. The statutes do not give it that authority, and shouldn't. The Internet's success has largely been due to the fact that the FCC has regulated only up to the MAC layer, and no higher. |
| Regardless of your biased opinions on this matter, something needs to be done.
Comcast wasn't just throttling things they didn't like, they were violating IP protocol and sending kill signals. If you cannot count that basic protocols will be followed, what's the point in using their service? |
