Groundhog Day 2010: Should FCC Reclassify Broadband?

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net>
> Date: January 29, 2010 4:46:38 PM EST
> To: dave () farber net, Ip ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
> Subject: Groundhog Day 2010: Should FCC Reclassify Broadband?

> Groundhog Day 2010: Should the FCC Reclassify Broadband Internet  
> Service?
>
> by Barbara Esbin
>
> As we approach Groundhog Day, 2010, we are faced with calls for the  
> Federal Communications Commission to re-classify broadband Internet  
> service from an "information service" to a "telecommunications  
> service" under the Communications Act so that it may be more  
> comprehensively regulated by the agency. Public Knowledge has  
> formally requested that the FCC address the question of  
> reclassification of broadband service as a Title II common carrier  
> service as part of its National Broadband Plan, now due to be  
> delivered to Congress by March 17, 2010. A stated reason for this  
> request is to end regulatory uncertainty over the breadth and depth  
> of the FCC's "ancillary jurisdiction" to regulate broadband Internet  
> services. Yet acceding to such a request would take us on a time  
> loop where we are doomed to repeat the regulatory exercises of the  
> recent past with little regard to the lessons learned along the way.
>
> The situation brings to mind the 1993 film, " Groundhog Day," in  
> which an egotistical and sardonic TV meteorologist, Phil Connors  
> must travel to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania for the hated annual  
> assignment of reporting on the emergence of the groundhog "Phil"  
> from winter hibernation with his weather report. A blizzard, which  
> Phil reported would miss the area, soon strands our meteorologist in  
> Punxsutawney. By virtue of some cosmic loop, Phil discovers that  
> every time he awakens it is February 2nd, Groundhog Day and he must  
> once again repeat the same day. No one but the erstwhile Phil,  
> however, remembers the actions of the day before. Armed with the  
> knowledge that there will be no long term consequences, Phil begins  
> to misbehave. Eventually, he decides to use what he learns each day  
> to improve himself and the lives of those around him. The phrase  
> "Groundhog Day" has since passed into the popular vernacular as a  
> reference to an unpleasant situation that continually repeats, or  
> seems to.
>
> Are we doomed to continually replay the debate over the imposition  
> of common carrier requirements on broadband ISPs, without learning  
> from our past? Or will we, like Phil the meteorologist, learn from  
> regulatory history, and remove, rather than impose, regulatory  
> barriers to investment and innovation?
>
> More at
>
> http://blog.pff.org/archives/2010/01/groundhog_day_2010_should_the_fcc_reclassify_broad.html



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