A new way to skin the net neutrality cat

[Commentary] The main trouble with the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality rules is that the rules, as written, don’t really address the problem they’re trying to remedy. They attempt to regulate what is essentially anti-competitive behavior by Internet service providers, or the potential for anti-competitive behavior, by treating it as a matter of communications law, instead of antitrust law.

The reason is obvious: the FCC does not have jurisdiction over antitrust law but does have jurisdiction over communications regulation. But it is a kludge too far. Even if the rules withstand court scrutiny -- a big if -- the potential for anti-competitive behavior toward online services will remain because ISPs have a lot of tools at their disposal with which to achieve anti-competitive effects without violating net neutrality. Just ask Netflix, or Intel. Now, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has come up with a better way to try to skin the net neutrality cat, by treating it squarely as a competition issue rather than a telecommunications issue.

[Sweeting is a Principal at Concurrent media Strategies]