Republican U.S. Senators, whether deliberately or not (you decide) have introduced a bill called the Freedom For Consumer Choice (FCC) Act to throttle the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) broadband regulation powers.
Put forward by South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and six of his GOP colleagues, the bill claims that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is trying to "impose unnecessary, antiquated regulations on the Internet" and that the FCC (Freedom for Consumers) Act makes regulators "prove a tangible consumer benefit" before applying any additional regulation.
The bill, of course, was assaulted by net neutrality advocates like Art Brodsky of Public Knowledge who said the senators and their bill had it all wrong. "No one wants to regulate the Internet. They start from that premise, which is wrong."
That's not the way the cable industry, or many others who have heard FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposal for a "third way" of net regulations see it. NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow made that clear in an e-mail that said the legislation is a "valuable addition" to the debate over "how best to continue policies that promote growth of broadband and the development of innovative Internet services."
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