Like the 'Net? Take a ScreenShot

Obama's FCC doesn't need no steeenkin' Court approval. They just do whatever they damn well please. (That's why it's called "Obama's" FCC.)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on Thursday to begin the formal process of bringing the Internet under greater federal control – a move sought by both President Barack Obama and FCC Chairnman Julius Genachowski.

This step comes after the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in April rebuked the FCC in its attempt to enforce a controversial regulatory doctrine called Net Neutrality, which would allow the government to prevent private Internet providers from deciding which applications to allow on their networks.

So they're most likely to declare the net to be a "telecommunications" vehicle--and then super-double-promise-cross-my-heart-hope-to-die not to invoke the FCC's powers over telecoms.

Uh-huh.

The laugh line?

Michael Copps, at the FCC, sought to frame the issue in terms of consumer protection, claiming that “consumers find themselves in quite a box” because government, he claimed, had been “all but shorn” of the authority to regulate Internet service.

Copps said he was “worried” about relying purely on the private sector for Internet-based innovation, saying that the problems of such an approach could be seen in the 2008 financial collapse and the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Oh, yah. The regulators did SUCH a good job with Bear, and Lehmann, and BP, remember?