Before Net Neutrality Eats the World, Part 1: Net Neutrality vs. Infrastructure Wealth

by Wayne Crews on August 19, 2013 · 0 comments

in Deregulate to Stimulate, Economy, Features, Property Rights, Regulation, Tech & Telecom

On September 9, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments in Verizon’s challenge of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) December 2010 Order on “Preserving the Free and Open Internet.” (That day, you’ll be able to stream a TechFreedom/International Center for Law & Economics luncheon panel discussing the proceedings.)

The arguments mark the critical culmination of a longstanding effort by FCC to expand power over speech and infrastructure in America in violation not merely of the Constitution and the rule of law (as plaintiffs and allies certainly allege; my organization took part in an amici curiae brief), but of common sense, economic efficiency, and consumer welfare.

The Order, the prior 2009 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (see CEI filing to FCC) and the even earlier Notice of Inquiry on Broadband Industry Practices (see CEI filing) asserts national government authority over the Internet’s future with respect to broadband access and pricing.

Unelected FCC commissioners contemplate this action without authority from Congress, and even with such authority, it should have and would have been challenged……To Read More…..