FCC'S POWELL OPPOSES FILLING INTERNET REGULATORY VACUUM

November 14, 2003 |Miscellaneous

With an economy increasingly dependent on the Internet, state and federal regulators must act carefully when setting new telecom policy, despite a virtual statutory vacuum, FCC Chmn. Powell said in a speech to the Federalist Society Thurs. He said the digital revolution and resulting media convergence “throws a monkey wrench into the workings” of the 1996 Telecom Act, which he said “preserves a Balkanized legal regime built for an analog age marked by rigid specifications” based on old technology. “The rise of the Internet will severely challenge federalism as it has been applied under the Telecommunications Act,” he said.

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The lack of clear statutory guidance has given rise to conflicting state and federal regulatory roles, Powell said. He criticized a recent 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, decision vacating an FCC rule holding broadband Internet services to the same regulatory regime as telecommunications companies, but applauded a Minn. court decision blocking that state’s effort to regulate calls over the Internet. “There is a real danger that as the Internet continues to command a central position in communications and commerce, the assertions of different state regulatory regimes could threaten its viability,” he said. “State interventions individually may not affect the network, but their cumulative affect could. To move in this direction could suck the life out of the Internet.”

“None of this is meant to suggest there is no role for states,” Powell said: “But just as the Internet’s magic rests on uniform protocols, and is unimpeded by various technical platforms, regulation will need to be uniform and unimpeded by the different state legal platforms."He said no entity should move to regulate the Internet without “absolutely, compelling justification.”

Afterward, Powell sidestepped reporters’ questions on the direction the Commission was likely to take on must-carry rules. Broadly, he said it would have to weigh carefully whether requiring cable systems to carry multiple broadcast streams violated the First Amendment. He said no entity should move to regulate the Internet without “absolutely, compelling justification.”