Obamanet Shows Its Fangs

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[Commentary] Open Internet regulations are now in effect and the Washington Post got word about the first federal complaint to be filed.

A company that streams live video wants regulators to set the price it pays to transport its content -- at zero. The complainant is Commercial Network Services, whose video streams travel smoothly over networks thanks to the multibillion-dollar industry that provides the connections through content-delivery networks and peering and transit services. These “fast lanes” make the Internet possible by ensuring bandwidth-hogging uses such as video don’t slow everything else down. Netflix and YouTube, which at peak times use most of the Internet’s bandwidth, even built their own proprietary fast lanes. The Federal Communications Commission now claims authority over the entire system. Bureaucrats will decide if “charges” and other “practices” on the Internet are “fair and reasonable.” That vague “reasonable” is the most litigated term in utility regulation. The FCC also introduced an undefined “general conduct rule” for the Internet in case price regulations don’t give its bureaucrats enough power.

The success of the Internet should have taught that especially with fast-changing technology, government governs best when it governs least. President Barack Obama thinks he knows better, unleashing regulators to run the Internet. Only Congress or the courts can save the open Internet from becoming the bureaucratic Obamanet.


Obamanet Shows Its Fangs