FCC Chair: Antitrust Is Too Time-Consuming and Expensive For Preserving Neutrality

Earlier this year, Rep Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) -- chair of the House Judiciary Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet subcommittee -- criticized the Federal Communications Commission for engaging in "mission creep" with its net neutrality order. While Chairman Goodlatte said he was concerned that broadband providers might engage in anti-consumer behavior, he said Congress, not the FCC, should make rules regarding the Internet. What's more, he suggested, any attempt by Internet service providers to violate open Internet principles could be handled under antitrust law.

"Antitrust laws alone would not adequately preserve the freedom and openness of the Internet or provide enough certainty and confidence to drive investment in our innovation future," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in testimony before Goodlatte's subcommittee. "Antitrust enforcement is expensive to pursue, takes a long time, and kicks in only after damage is done. Especially for start-ups in a fast-moving area like the Internet, that's not a practical solution."

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, who dissented from the FCC's order, reiterated his belief that open Internet regulations are unnecessary. "Nothing is broken in the broadband Internet access market that needs fixing," he said. "Sufficient antitrust and consumer protection laws exist to prevent and cure any of the contemplated harms outlined in the order."

Under pressure from Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman Genachowski denied that he collaborated with President Obama in developing and passing the regulations to prevent anticompetitive behavior online.

Asked whether the FCC's upcoming report on broadband deployment would continue the trend, begun with July's 706 report, that broadband was not being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion, Chairman Genachowski suggested it would, explaining that universal access was the goal, and that with a gap of about 100 million people who either don't have or don't choose to use broadband, that gap remained a large one that the FCC was working to close.