A light-handed approach to the Internet, not regulation

[Commentary] I had thought that, at the end of the day, the Federal Communications Commission would pull back from subjecting broadband to public utility-type regulation by reclassifying it as a Title II telecommunications service. I couldn't imagine that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and his colleagues would want regulating the Internet to be their legacy. But now I'm not so sure.

If infrastructure providers can't charge edge providers, consumers may be the losers. Payments by edge providers could help defray infrastructure costs and therefore lower prices to consumers, increasing subscribership, particularly among more price-sensitive users. The economic support for blanket rules prohibiting paid prioritization and mandating zero pricing is weak. There are many aspects of the Internet that make analysis complicated, especially the rapid rate of change and the complexity of the two-sided market arrangements. Those features call not for new regulation, but a humble, light-handed approach.

[Lenard is president and senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute]