Verizon CEO Blasts FCC Open Internet Proposal

Verizon Communications Chairman Ivan Seidenberg on Wednesday had some harsh words for the Federal Communications Commission a day ahead of its planned vote on open Internet rules, adding to what has become a fever pitch of public debate over the proposal. The speech was delivered on the same day that 30 business investors in technology companies sent a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski praising the rules. In a speech before the SUPERCOMM 2009 conference in Chicago, Seidenberg said it would be a "mistake, pure and simple" for the FCC to impose a "burdensome regime" of regulation on the Internet, particularly if the rules apply only to Internet service providers like Verizon and not Web companies like Google. "If it applies only to us, the government will in effect be favoring one set of competitors over another," Seidenberg said. "If this burdensome regime of net regulation is imposed on all parts of the Internet industry, it will inject an extraordinary amount of bureaucratic oversight into the economy's main growth engine for the future." "If we can't differentiate between packets, we can't prioritize emergency communications for first responders, telesurgery or heart-monitor readings for digital medicine or videoconferencing over spam for telecommuters," he said.