Should the FCC regulate Internet providers?

[The Straight Story]

Should the FCC regulate Internet providers?

Everyone is trying to control the Internet, or at least have a piece of it. Until now, the Internet grew free, unhampered by regulation and was allowed to grow on its own. But now, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is going head-to-head against Internet service providers.

Genachowski is confident the agency has the authority to regulate Internet service providers. The providers are pushing back, arguing they cannot be regulated like a telephone company.

The debate over a national broadband plan is fanning the flames of this dispute. In two weeks, Genachowski plans to recommend unleashing 500 megahertz of spectrum for the next generation of smartphones, tablet computers and other portable devices that connect people wirelessly to the web. But in an interview at the Washington Post, he declined to say whether the FCC would reclassify broadband service providers to fall under the jurisdiction of the FCC.

Ultimately, Congress will get involved in this dispute over whether the Internet can remain a free entity. And somewhere down the road, the issue is likely to end up at the Supreme Court.

Read more: http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/should-fcc-regulate-internet-providers/2010-03-03#ixzz0hIwP3Uu2

[KharmaTrain]

1. Make It A Public Utility...

I don't know anyone who is getting Internet for free. Someone somewhere is paying for the access, just like paying for a phone. There's a difference between getting access to the internet and the free flow of information on it. The question is who should be making money from this huge pipeline and the access to it.

Right now it's large corporations that dominate the access and want to keep it that way. In many areas, municipalities are stepping in to set up their own access...especially with wireless internet to increase access that would be a serious threat to the corporates. This is where the debate is centering...and who will have the ultimate say on who gets access to the internet and how much one pays for it.

Yes, Congress will get involved as the role of the Internet has become central to this nation's communications infrastructure. Millions now do their business over it and whomever controls the access has a big say in the overall prosperity of not just the Internet but the economy.

[Enthusiast]

2. The FCC should regulate

the FUCK out of the internet providers. Otherwise it will end up like satellite and cable fucking TV.

[Trekologer]

3. I would say yes

There are many Internet-based services that need a reliable connection. I believe that Internet providers should be regulated with standards for uptime, speed (both a minimum speed to be called "broadband" and advertised verses actual connection speed), and quality (packet loss, jitter, latency). The Internet is becoming a market-leveler: you can now pick your own phone company and not be limited by the one or two in your area. As technologies improve, you will be able to pick your television provider and not be limited to your local cable company.

If its not the FCC, then the states' boards of utilities.

[WeDidIt]

4. The FCC already regulates the Tier 1 providers

Everybody else depends upon the Tier 1 providers.

[melm00se]

5. the big concern

is will the regulation go over the edge and attempt to regulate the actual content?

regulating the how is, borderline, ok
regulating the what is a 1st amendment issue.

[Echo In Light]

6. Going by the track record of the US Big Bro infrastructure, that indeed should be a BIG concern