Appropriate Roles for FCC and FTC Could Determine Fate of Broadband Consumers

The Internet can serve as a means for enhancing consumer protections, provided that government agencies play their appropriate role in regulating and disclosing the practices of broadband providers, according to a several consumer advocates. Speaking at the September 9 workshop of the Federal Communications Commission, the advocates observed that the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission could each play a significant role in enhancing consumer knowledge about broadband. Mike Nelson, a visiting professor of communications, culture and technology at Georgetown University, and a former Clinton administration Internet official, said that the flowering of the e-commerce in the 1990s owed was "due in large part to the decision [by the government] NOT to regulate."