The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) just released its final rules on how they will regulate the internet. You know, the rules they voted to pass several weeks ago. Better late than never, I guess.

Last week, I wrote about how a number of pro-Net Neutrality groups are unhappy with the FCC’s decision to broadly regulate internet service providers as telecommunications utilities, applying the text of a decades-old law to the most rapidly-moving and innovative sector in our economy.

Last Thursday the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to regulate broadband internet as a public utility. This decision to regulate the internet was made mostly through secret meetings without public comment and less than a decade after the FCC declined to regulate the internet because there was no necessity. Even worse, because the 300-plus page new rule has not been made public yet, we still do not know exactly what is in the rule. Since the Federal Trade Commission already has the authority to protect consumers from anticompetitive business practices, the FCC’s new rules are another example of government trying to fix a problem that is nonexistent. The new rules may in fact harm consumers both by limiting competition, and by preventing the FTC from filing charges against internet providers once they are determined to be common carriers.

The FCC’s recent decision to reclassify the internet as a utility is ruffling some feathers, but not the ones you might expect. The Federal Communications Commission, acting under orders from the president, has been largely successful in representing its decision as a matter of Net Neutrality, of regulating the specific ways in which service providers can manage bandwidth.

Democracy and Power 101: Government is Power The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. —James Madison, Speech in the Virginia State Convention of 1829-1830

Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 in favor of a controversial proposal to regulate the internet as a public utility, similar to telephone calls. The vote came as expected, down party lines with the three Democrats supporting and the two Republicans opposed. The decision is no surprise, but it leaves us with two questions that need to be answered: What does this mean, and where do we go from here?

On February 26th, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), acting under the direction of President Obama, will vote on a 300-plus-page rule regulate the internet in much the same way it currently regulates utilities. The FCC’s new powers will be broad, and mark an end to the decades of unregulated internet service that has proven to be the greatest source of economic growth and innovation the world has ever seen. That the Commission will vote to pass the rule is all but a certainty.

Personal Freedom and Prosperity 110: The Rule of Law A government with moral and legal authority promulgates written rules and universally, impartially and uniformly enforces the rules, which provides a predictable and stable legal order on which to base economic and personal decisions. The law prevails, not the proclamation or arbitrary decision of a ruler, government bureaucrat, the enforcer (e.g., policeman) or judge.

February is going to be a big month for Net Neutrality. Following a public request by the president, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that he will circulate a new rule on February 5th among the five FCC chairmen. The Commission will then hold a vote on whether to release the rule on February 26th.