Possible 'hybrid' Net neutrality rules get chilly reception

[Commentary] Internet service providers, Web-based entrepreneurs and consumer groups are sharply divided over whether and how the Federal Communications Commission should try to preserve the Net's status as an open, neutral platform for innovation. Now, in trying to find a middle ground, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler may be moving onto a more treacherous political and legal minefield. The maneuvering is yet another signal that Congress should craft neutrality rules specifically for broadband, rather than leaving the FCC to search for a way to do so under a law written before the first broadband lines reached consumers.

Granted, the likelihood of a Republican Congress giving a federal agency explicit authority to regulate the Internet is slim. But the alternative is to watch the FCC keep applying its authority over dial tones and communications infrastructure to the neutrality puzzle until it finds a set of rules that the courts will approve. That thought should motivate lawmakers in both parties to act. And if it doesn't, the millions of people who bombarded the FCC with demands for strong Net neutrality rules should apply that same pressure to their elected representatives.