It’s been a bad week for the rule of law. First, President Obama — without any apparent legal authority — “informs” BP that it is to hand over $20 billion into an escrow fund, or else. Not to be outdone, the Federal Communications Commission this morning voted 3-2 to take the first steps toward regulating the Internet. The decision comes only two months after a federal court — rather definitively – ruled that the agency had no authority to do take that step. Specifically, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DhabZ2N8U8[/youtube] FCC Commissioner McDowell recently spoke at Heritage’s Blogger Briefing and then sat down with the Foundry to discuss the ongoing process to add unnecessary regulation across the entire internet. The complicated proposed rules for the new medium are an old story of regulation: It does put government in the unprecedented role of perhaps sitting between the producer and the consumer in the internet space. There you have it. Wedging itself between two mutually benefiting parties in the name of fairness is perhaps what government regulation does best. Also see …
Is the Internet in clear and present danger? Yes, say proponents of neutrality regulation of the Internet. In a speech last month calling for FCC neutrality regulation, Chairman Julius Genachowski stopped short of quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, but did all he could to paint a dire picture of the Internet’s future: “This is not about protecting the Internet against imaginary dangers,” he said. If we wait too long to preserve a free and open Internet, it will be too late.” The warning evoked a certain sense of deja vu, and …
