FCC vote a move to reclassify broadband

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted Thursday to start the controversial process of reclassifying high-speed Internet access as a tightly regulated telecommunications service, which could pave the way for adopting rules that prevent service providers from giving priority to some types of content traveling through their networks.

The five-person commission voted 3-2 along party lines to collect public comments about a new regulatory framework, dubbed "The Third Way," that will make Internet service providers subject to some of the same nondiscrimination rules as telephone companies.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, a Democrat, has been a vocal supporter of requiring Internet providers to treat all similar Web traffic equally, an issue known as net neutrality. Such rules would prevent telecommunications companies from potentially charging websites for speedier delivery of their content. By reclassifying broadband, the FCC would have authority over Internet service providers to enforce net neutrality.

"The Third Way approach was developed out of a desire to restore the status quo light-touch framework that existed prior to the court case," Genachowski said. "Let's not pretend that the problems with the state of broadband in America don't exist; let's not pretend that the risk of excessive regulation is not real, or, at the other extreme, that the absence of basic protections for competition and consumers is acceptable."

Fellow Democrats Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn joined Genakowski in supporting the move toward reclassification, which was motivated, in part, by an April federal appeals-court ruling that overturned a landmark 2008 FCC decision concerning Internet traffic.

The FCC ruled in 2008 that Comcast, the nation's largest cable and Internet service provider, had improperly discriminated against Internet content by blocking customers from using a file-sharing program. Signaling support for broadband service providers, the court said the FCC lacked authority from Congress to make such a ruling.

The agency is moving toward reclaiming authority Congress gave it, Copps said.

"We are not talking, even remotely, about regulating the Internet," Copps said. "We are talking about meaningful oversight of the infrastructure and services that allow Americans to get to the Internet."

GOP commissioners Meredith Baker and Robert McDowell voted against the proposal. McDowell said, "The proposed new regime will place the heavy thumb of government on the scale of a free market" and stunt innovation and investment. Those concerns were echoed by Internet service-provider trade groups and other Republicans.

The debate over net neutrality has pitted broadband service providers, including Comcast and AT&T, against Internet companies that extol free-flowing Web traffic and an open Internet.

Tom Tauke, a Verizon spokesman, said: "Rather than attempting to make the new world of broadband fit into the regulatory scheme of the old telephone world, the FCC should acknowledge that this is an issue Congress should address."

Meanwhile, Google, a net neutrality proponent, cheered the FCC's decision. "As we have said before, broadband infrastructure is too important to be left outside of any oversight," the company said.

Material from The New York Times and

Bloomberg News is included in this report.