How the FCC Plans to Regulate Internet Lines
Worried that phone and cable company stocks could take a tumble, Federal Communications Commission officials will brief Wall Street analysts before the markets open Thursday morning to explain in greater detail how they plan to regulate Internet lines.
On Wednesday afternoon, aides to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski began briefing other FCC officials and lawmakers about how the agency plans to make sure it can enforce net neutrality, or the requirement that Internet providers treat all legal Internet traffic equally.
Mr. Genachowski plans to circulate a notice of inquiry to other FCC board members next week on his plans to reclassify Internet lines — both cable and phone Internet lines — as common carrier services under Title 2 of the Communications Act. In 2002, the FCC deregulated Internet lines, and this move basically reverses that decision.
