Court Rules Against FCC's Internet Authority

A couple of weeks ago we published a blog post about how Internet service providers were challenging the U.S. Federal Communication Commission's (FCC's) authority to regulate the Internet (see "ISPs Challenge FCC's Internet Authority," 3-25-2010). On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the FCC does not have authority over network management practices (Comcast Corp. v. Federal Communications Commission, no. 08-1291). An article in the Washington Post ("Court Rules for Comcast over FCC in 'Net Neutrality' Case," 4-27-2010) suggests that this court ruling could hamper other FCC initiatives concerning Internet regulations.

Who knows how this ruling will affect customer Internet access in the coming months and years? Here are some decision-makers' comments and actions following the court ruling:

• Statement of Commissioner Michael J. Copps
  on the Comcast V. FCC Decision In this statement, the most virulent from any of the FCC commissioners, Copps comments that the "only way the Commission can make lemonade out of this lemon of a decision is to do now what should have been done years ago: treat broadband as the telecommunications service that it is."
• Statement of Commissioner Robert M. McDowell
• Statement of Commissioner Mignon Clyburn
• Statement of Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker
• Statement of U.S. Representative Henry A. Waxman, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce
• FCC Announces Broadband Action Agenda Despite the court ruling, the Commission announced its Broadband Action Agenda today. Chairman Genachowski is quoted as saying, "The court decision earlier this week does not change our
  broadband policy goals . . ."

For additional resources, see our previous blog post on this subject and our guide to telecommunications.