The FCC Shouldn't Go Down the Primrose (Preemption) Path

 

 

Published in The Hill 

July 31, 2014

 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) already has suffered two judicial rebukes in its efforts to impose net neutrality mandates on Internet service providers, most recently this past January in the D.C. Circuit's Verizon v. FCC decision. Nonetheless, the agency now is in the midst of yet another rulemaking proposing to adopt new net neutrality regulations.

 

But here I want to address a separate, but nevertheless related, FCC initiative that is likely to lead to yet another judicial reversal. In response to the Verizon defeat, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said that he wants to encourage municipalities to operate their own broadband networks in competition with private-sector broadband providers.  

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Wheeler's idea that the FCC should preempt the 20 state laws restricting municipal telecom networks is flawed from both a policy and legal perspective.

 

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/technology/213849-the-fcc-shouldnt-go-down-the-primrose-preemption-path#ixzz392kUYtUS