FCC dealt major blow in net neutrality ruling favoring, Comcast

Mon Apr 12 06:11:38 UTC 2010

On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 5:43 PM, Richard Bennett <richard at bennett.com> wrote:
> The FCC is structured in such a way that the chairman calls all the shots on
> policy matters. In this instance, the former chairman, Kevin Martin, was
> responsible for the Comcast order but the current chairman, Julius
> Genachowski, had to defend it in court. Some wags insist that the defense
> was a bit lackluster because Genachowski didn't much care for the legal
> basis of the Comcast order, which relied on a lot of smoke and mirrors to
> regulate aspects of edge network behavior that Congress never told the FCC
> to regulate. The defense relied on some legal theories that weren't used in
> the order itself, and that's a no-no in an appeal. The court took the rather
> extraordinary step of suggesting arguments that the FCC could have used in
> the appeal that it didn't use.
...
> Research Fellow
> Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

It should probably be noted, for purpose of establishing bias, that
Richard is a Washington lobbyist, hired to represent Comcast on
regulatory matters.  What he views as overstepping legal bounds,
others may view as protecting consumers...

Drive Slow,
Paul Wall