Senator Says F.C.C. Not Up to Net Neutrality Task

Ars Technica reports: When I saw Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) this past May in Washington, DC, the senator was telling a small group of technology executives a story involving DARPA, a monkey, and a joystick. But Dorgan's deadly serious when it comes to tech issues, he's one of the big backers of legislating network neutrality, and he doesn't have much faith in the (current) FCC. It's not surprising, then, that his telecom aide announced yesterday that the senator would be introducing net neutrality legislation again next year, much to the chagrin of the big ISPs.

With the Comcast case behind us (though now on appeal), ISPs have been telling anyone who would listen that the need for preemptive legislation is over. Much better for the markets to work everything out and for the FCC to step in on a case-by-case basis with the regulatory jackboot when someone steps over the line and starts violating the Internet Policy Statement.

There's much to be said for this argument, but it does depend on having confidence in the FCC. That's not something Dorgan has in abundance; he said in May that he wants to "wake up the FCC," that it's a "cheerleader and a pep squad wrapped together in one big noise machine" when it comes to big telecom mergers, and that FCC Chair Kevin Martin spends his days "running down some blind alleys on public policy."

While an Obama administration will bring a Democratic majority to the Commission, there's no telling how it will rule in each individual case, and Democrats won't be in power forever. For something as important as network neutrality, Dorgan seems confident that a law is needed. And he knows just which law it is we need--his.

Dorgan was the sponsor, along with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), of the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, last introduced in January 2007. The bill made precisely no progress in the Senate over the last two years, though Obama's professed support for net neutrality may give the bill more traction this time around.

In a short YouTube video that Dorgan made the day that the bill was introduced, he made clear just how important such legislation is to him. Deploying the dreaded "information superhighway" metaphor of yore, Dorgan said that only network neutrality rules can ensure that everyone gets to ride on the high-tech Interstate, not just "a gravel road somewhere on the Internet."

by Nate Anderson

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