FCC May Tweak Broadband Plan After Comcast Ruling - PCMagazine

[WillyT]

FCC May Tweak Broadband Plan After Comcast Ruling
By: Chloe Albanesius
04.09.2010

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Despite a recent ruling that said the Federal Communications Commission did not have the right to interfere in Comcast's network management issues, the agency is pushing ahead with its national broadband plan, though there might be some tweaks.

"Does the FCC still have a mission in the Internet area? Absolutely," Austin Schlick, general counsel for the FCC, wrote in a blog post. "The Court did not adopt the view that the Commission lacks authority to protect the openness of the Internet."

The court did, however, say that the FCC lacked the authority to hand down a 2008 enforcement action against Comcast. The commission, under former chairman Kevin Martin, found that Comcast used unreasonable network management when it blocked access to P2P sites like BitTorrent and ordered the company to be more transparent about its policies. Comcast agreed to do that, but appealed the decision anyway because, it argued, the FCC did not have the right to issue orders on the issue.

Why? Well, the FCC based its decision on its Internet Policy Principles, a set of guidelines the agency developed internally several years ago regarding broadband Internet service. But because they are simply policies developed internally by the FCC and not actual rules that went through a formal, open rulemaking process, Comcast argued that they are invalid, as is the enforcement action.

This week, an appeals court agreed, and invalidated the FCC's actions.

In the wake of this decision, many wondered what this meant for the FCC's much-publicized broadband plan, as well as their ongoing rulemaking on net neutrality. If the FCC has on authority to handle network management issues, do they have the authority to handle broadband or net neutrality issues?

Yes, according to the FCC. Congress ordered the commission to develop the national broadband plan, so the FCC has been granted authority to address that issue, Schlick said.

"The Comcast/BitTorrent opinion has no effect at all on most of the plan," Schlick wrote. "Many of the recommendations for the FCC itself involve matters over which the commission has an 'express statutory delegation of authority.' These include critical projects such as making spectrum available for broadband uses, improving the efficiency of wireless systems, bolstering the use of broadband in schools, improving coordination with Native American governments to promote broadband, collecting better broadband data, unleashing competition and innovation in smart video devices, and developing common standards for public safety networks."

Those thoughts were echoed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

"The court decision earlier this week does not change our broadband policy goals, or the ultimate authority of the FCC to act to achieve those goals," Genachowski said. "The court did not question the FCC's goals; it merely invalidated one technical, legal mechanism for broadband policy chosen by prior commissions."

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More: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362444,00.asp

And... an article on the upcoming FCC schedule on this...

Don't blink: Hard-charging FCC turns broadband plan into action

Federal Communications Commission watchers everywhere, gird thy loins. However frenetic you thought it was in FCC-land back during the media ownership, Comcast P2P, or Sirius XM merger wars, forget it. The Commission has just laid out the road map and schedule for implementing its National Broadband Plan, and it looks pretty relentless—crucial rulemakings lined up back to back through the rest of the year and into 2011.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/nbp-unleash-the-dogs-of-policy.ars

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[annabanana]

1. This is good to hear, I think I hope that people are "in the weeds" on this one.

We cannot afford to drop the ball and I don't have the expertise to ferret out misdoing and rule twisting. And I am SURE that the telecoms will do their best to grad as much control as possible. It's just too juicy a plum to leave alone.

[Mari333]

2. k