Questions to Ask Regarding Internet Regulation

Speaking at the Institute for Policy Communications Summit, Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell said he'd like the National Broadband Plan to be "flexible, iterative and not carved in stone." With estimates that universal broadband will cost between $20 billion and $350 billion and a preference for those capital expenditures to come from the private sector, Commissioner McDowell wondered how we will provide incentives for such massive amounts of private sector investment. Not by examining open Internet, Network Neutrality, rules, he answers. Broadband is thriving. he argues, without regulation. And, even if it weren't, would government be the one to fix the problem? Although it was originally a government creation, it became the fastest penetrating phenomenon invented by humans not through command-and-control government industrial policy, but by privatizing it in 1994. Early efforts to keep the Internet open and free ignited the creation of loosely-knit and non-state-controlled Internet governance entities staffed by volunteer engineers, academics and software developers, among others. These collaborative bodies have never failed to resolve major network management challenges. Will we conclude that the government could do better? Will the government be able to replicate the billions of decisions that are made each day in the Internet's ecosystem? Can the Commission really respond to cyber challenges in Internet time? I have the highest regard for each of my four colleagues on the Commission, but not one of us is an engineer. Do you really want us making these highly technical decisions?