The Patriot Post® · FCC Chair Wants to Be Able to Regulate Internet Rates

Despite the chairman’s insistence to the contrary, it appears the Federal Communications Commission believes it has the right to control how much you pay for Internet access. “There will be no rate regulation,” FCC Chair Tom Wheeler promised before net neutrality became the law of the land last year. In response to the law, Rep. Dan Kinzinger introduced a bill that specifies the FCC cannot regulate the price of the Internet. Now, the FCC seems to have changed its stance.

The agency that worked closely with the Obama administration to create net neutrality wants the option of regulating rates. Wheeler wrote a letter to Congress opposing the bill. “It would introduce significant uncertainty into the Commission’s ability to enforce the three bright line rules that bar blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization rules,” Wheeler wrote, “as well as our general conduct rule that would be applied to issues such as data caps and zero rating. It would also cast doubt on the ability of the Commission to ensure that broadband providers receiving universal service subsidies do not overcharge their consumers. Finally, it would hamstring aspects of the Commission’s merger review process.” And net neutrality wasn’t supposed to be about the government taking over the Internet. Sure thing.