FCC dodges answers on reclassification in sweeping national broadband plan

As the Federal Communications Commission unveiled its sweeping national broadband plan, questions loom over the agency's ability to regulate Internet service providers. The agency chose to avoid answering what it will do as a federal court appears that it will undermine the FCC's authority over those services, thereby putting into question some of the biggest proposals in its plan to bring broadband connections to every home in America. Only on the penultimate page of the 338-page plan did the FCC address, in the most noncommittal way, that there are debates out there. The agency laid out arguments presented by corporations and the public on the legal frameworks available to carry out proposals including one that would reallocate an $8 billion annual phone fund for rural areas to broadband services. In its plan, the agency said: "The FCC will consider these and related questions as it moves forward to implement the plan."