Democracy & Technology Blog Net neutrality dead?
Amy Schatz of the Wall Street Journal reports that Republicans on Chairman Henry A. Waxman’s Energy & Commerce Committee declined to support his net neutrality proposal. Which is not a big surprise. And that the proposal was opposed for different reasons by members of his own party.
Waxman apparently acted completely honorably in search of middle ground.
Yet, it is now more clear than ever that net neutrality is nothing more than a left-wing fantasy. Moderate Democrats don’t really care. Republicans oppose it, of course. We now know it cannot pass in a House of Representatives with a significant Democratic majority.
Chairman Waxman says, “If Congress can’t act, the FCC must,” according to Schatz. That’s very amusing.
If the FCC votes it out along partisan lines, will the courts uphold it? Broadband is not a “natural monopoly.” It would be very surprising if the courts upheld public utility regulation of broadband services.