No network neutrality plan from Congress, so now what?

With House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) throwing in the towel on network neutrality legislation, what happens next? This development definitely drives this clunker back to the Federal Communications Commission's garage. The FCC has been kicking the network neutrality ball down the road for months. The matter is noticeably absent from the agency's October Open Commission meeting, as it was in September.

And public interest groups are already making the obvious point. If Congress can't deal with this question, it's time for the FCC to punt.

"We are in full agreement with Chairman Waxman that the FCC must act now to protect consumers by reinstating its authority over broadband," declared Gigi Sohn at Public Knowledge. "We can wait no longer. We expect those members of Congress who argued that it was Congress' duty to set telecommunications policy would recognize the authority of the FCC in the absence of legislation."