The much talked about next step in purging freedom from the people of the U.S. is now official as of today.  The FCC, at the behest of President Obama, has ruled that in the interest of protecting the openness and freedom of the Internet they must assume control. [Cue the end of 2112 by Rush]

The split decision begins by stating

Ending lingering uncertainty about the future of the Open Internet, the Federal Communications Commission today set sustainable rules of the roads that will protect free expression and innovation on the Internet and promote investment in the nation’s broadband networks.

“set sustainable rules” is probably the single most important phrase in the entire press release.  In other words the Internet, at least according to the FCC, is now under their oversight.  Of equally great concern is the heavy hand the executive branch had in pushing this forward within a supposedly independent government agency.

On Feb. 10 FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai held a press conference to bring to light his concerns not only with the level of control the regulation places on broadband providers but also how it was forced by President Obama.  I have not been able to find a copy of this press conference to listen to his words directly.  However Mark Levin interviewed him on Feb. 11 which we can listen to.

He said the 332 page regulation had been intentionally labeled as secret and not to be viewed by the public until after the FCC hearing to decide whether to adopt it or not.  He mentioned that while the language had been modified slightly, in essence it’s a copy of what President Obama delivered to the FCC in Nov. 2014.  He calls the regulation

a solution that won’t work to a problem that doesn’t exist using legal authority we don’t have.”

In fact no massive problems are identified in the document that need to be corrected which he said

indicates to me that something else is afoot.  What it is I’m not sure but the end result is government control of virtually every aspect of the Internet.”

On the surface the language in the FFC press release appears to be innocent enough.  Almost a good thing in fact as it spells out restrictions and limitations on broadband providers.  They restrict providers from filtering content, throttling bandwidth, and unfairly using their wealth against smaller competitors.  That’s all good for broadband subscribers, right?

A few other goodies are

…broadband providers shall not be subject to utility-style rate regulation, including rate regulation, tariffs, and last-mile unbundling.

and

…the Order DOES NOT require broadband providers to contribute to the Universal Service Fund under Section 254.

and further more

Broadband service will remain exempt from state and local taxation under the Internet Tax Freedom Act.

So if we read this correctly, there will be NO new taxes (like we suffer on our phone bills) and no price regulation… at this time.  All good right?

Yet, where the Internet has previously, truly, been free from government regulation, as of today it isn’t.  And when Uncle Sam decides he must control something, we the people lose more freedom.  Oh sure it all sounds good today, but in the end this is control for the sake of control.  It reminds me of the great line George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) says to Mr. Potter in It’s a wonderful Life:

I know very well what you’re talking about.  You’re talking about something you can’t get your fingers on, and it’s galling you.”

As in all government control schemes the first casualty is “big business”.  Except in this case it’s all business, big or small.  What is painted as protection for the end user, will end up being a crippling blow from the aspect of limiting business growth and innovation.  If a business is not allowed to leverage it’s assets in order to grow it will no longer have a reason to develop new and better assets.  Yes, leveraging assets is a fine line that is at times crossed, such as in the case of a broadband provider throttling speeds on a video streaming service because the provider has a contract with a competing video streaming service.

Yep, a free and open and unregulated Internet was galling big brother.  What’s interesting is that the press release itself refers to twice having attempted to assume control and the courts over turned it.

But the agency’s attempts to implement enforceable, sustainable rules to protect the Open Internet have been twice struck down by the courts.

Yet they also state that was 15 years ago and the state of the Internet has changed so much that we all need their paternal care and ruling.  Humorous how they paint themselves as the savior of the Internet.  A very carefully worded release after weeks of speculation.  They even manage to use modern day catch words such as “sustainable”.

The new regulation is going to require broadband providers to be “transparent” regarding promotional fees and data caps.  This really isn’t a bad thing.  Who hasn’t been stung by an enormous rate increase once the undisclosed promotional time period has ended?  But the FCC and Obama administration are the last people to lecture others about being transparent as the entire proceeding leading up to this decision has been anything but transparent.  As of this writing I can’t find that 332 page document that finely details all of the new controls.  Rumor has it it’s far more intrusive than this scant release would imply, setting the stage for reaching into our right to free speech.  I can only assume we’ll find out in short order.  Or maybe not.

I have some additional thoughts, pure speculation on my part, as to why this may be happening right now.  Yet I need to do some more research and put it in a later post that will hopefully not be too far off.

Let’s hope the courts, better yet petition the courts to, intervene a third time and overturn this breach of freedom.