GM, the Banks, Now the Internet

Erickson warns about the FCC's "net neutrality" plot.

Phase one, Net Neutrality, includes no plans to regulate content, just routing. But just as the FCC regulates content on television and radio, most famously in the case of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl show, so too will it be able to regulate content on the Internet should Net Neutrality be the law of the land.

...Comcast has taken the FCC to court, arguing that the FCC’s current reaches into Internet regulation go beyond the statutory powers the FCC has been granted. In fact, those who watch this industry closely tell me that the federal courts at this point are almost sure to rule in Comcast’s favor.

Genachowski has a plan though. It’s one you may have heard of before: Deem and pass. The backup plan the FCC has, in the event that the courts rule that the FCC no longer has the authority to regulate information services on the Internet, is to deem that ISPs are no longer information providers, and then re-pass the same regulations that the courts just threw out, then pass Net Neutrality on top of that. Once that happens, the government will be taking over another sixth of the economy.

Think of it as "Hush Rush" on the Intertubes.