73 Democrats tell FCC: drop net neutrality rules

arstechnica

Includes Gabby Giffords.

A slew of House Democrats have sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission warning the agency not to go forward with its plan to partially reclassify ISPs as common carriers, a move needed to impose net neutrality rules.

"The uncertainty this proposal creates will jeopardize jobs and deter needed investment for years to come," wrote Texas Congressman Gene Green on Monday. "The significant regulatory impact of reclassifying broadband service is not something that should be taken lightly and should not be done without additional direction from Congress."

Plus, the "controversy surrounding that approach" could "serve as a distraction from what should be our Nation's foremost communications priority: bringing broadband to every corner of America, getting every American online," the letter continues. It's co-signed by 73 Democrats.

The FCC has been looking for a revised means to set up Internet non-discrimination rules ever since a Federal court shot down its Order against Comcast for P2P throttling. But at the same time that Green and his backers sent the FCC their letter, Capitol Hill's top Democrats, far more sympathetic to the FCC's plans, announced that they want to get that "additional direction from Congress" thing going via hearings to revise the Communications Act.

"In the long term, if there is a need to rewrite the law to provide consumers, the Commission, and industry with a new framework for telecommunications policy, we are committed as Committee Chairmen to doing so," wrote Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) earlier this month.

The Green letter seemed heaven-sent by the anti-net neutrality group Americans for Prosperity, host of the website NoInternetTakeover.com. And it was roundly condemned by the pro-net neutrality group Free Press, which unsparingly dissects the document on its SavetheInternet site.

The statement "is so full of misinformation that no member of Congress should in good conscience put his or her name on it," Save the Internet insists. Nevertheless, many did—and they are members of FCC Chair Julius Genachowski's own party.