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By Phil Kerpen September 23, 2011

Free from regulation, the Internet has been a bright spot in our weak economy, with tech sector unemployment at just 3.3 percent.  The net neutrality order will start us down the path to crippling it with regulations.  A study from NYU found the rule will destroy between 100,000 and 200,000 jobs.

 "At the moment, the battle over network neutrality is not to completely eliminate the telephone and cable companies. We are not at that point yet. But the ultimate goal is to get rid of the media capitalists in the phone and cable companies and to divest them from control."

Now comes a clear test for the U.S. Senate.  There is no clearer example of outrageous abuse of regulatory power than the FCC’s net neutrality order.  It came just weeks after an election in which all 95 candidates who campaigned on the issue lost.  It implemented a concept already clearly rejected by Congress and by federal courts.  And it rewarded special interests, both left-wing ideological groups and companies like Google and IAC/InterActiveCorp that are close to the administration.

1. officially published : http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FCC-2011-0395-0001
2. Federal Communications Commission : http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/federal-communications-commission.htm#r_src=ramp
3. Tarrance Group poll : http://www.thepublicnotice.org/2011/09/11/memo-national-poll-on-government-regulations/
4. Barack Obama : http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/obama-administration/barack-obama.htm#r_src=ramp
5. infamously promised : http://www.freepress.net/obama_net_neutrality
6. Google : http://www.foxnews.com/topics/google.htm#r_src=ramp
7. bragged about bypassing Congress : http://bit.ly/oPTiAY
8. Nancy Pelosi : http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/nancy-pelosi.htm#r_src=ramp
9. has let slip : http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/246.php
10. Harry Reid : http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/harry-reid.htm#r_src=ramp
11. urge the Senate to do the right thing : http://bit.ly/mPWWGG
12. Americans for Prosperity : http://www.americansforprosperity.org/

WASHINGTON, Sep 23, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Today, the final rules on "Preserving the Open Internet" were published in the Federal Register. The network neutrality rules will, for the first time in the history of the Internet, impose government regulation and intervention over the Internet. The new rules require that fixed and mobile broadband providers must disclose the network management practices, performance characteristics, and terms and conditions of their broadband services; prohibit the blocking of lawful content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices; and, may not discriminate unreasonably in transmitting lawful network traffic. These final rules will go into effect on November 20, 2011.

CAGW has consistently opposed these unfair rules on Internet providers. The House of Representatives has already taken action to disapprove the new network neutrality rules by passing H. J. Res. 37 on April 8, 2011. The House bill nullifies the "net neutrality" rules adopted by the FCC on December 21, 2010. The Senate has yet to act on this or similar legislation.

Proponents of net neutrality want the online world to be forced "open" at the expense of successful Internet providers. Legal issues aside, net neutrality supporters fail to recognize the many tradeoffs to "openness" such as increased spam, fewer privacy controls, and slower service. Regulation of the Internet would prevent carriers from managing their own networks, including the ability to curtail viruses and other harmful content. Forcing wireless carriers to over-expose their networks to data-heavy applications, like streaming video, graphic-rich games, and movies and music downloads, would only exacerbate the problem and cause disruptions for customers. In other words, the perverse result of the final rules is to protect the people who are hogging bandwidth at the expense of those who simply want to conduct normal and non-disruptive transactions online.

"No one walks around with a big sign saying 'I am a heavy bandwidth user and am responsible for performance delays on your computer,'" said CAGW President Tom Schatz. "While such an online equivalent of the Scarlet Letter would be helpful to non-offenders, it is not likely to happen anytime soon. Individuals might not be able to identify or stop the piggish bandwidth user, but the offender's Internet Service Provider (ISP) has the ability to manage traffic in order to combat network congestion, so that performance delays are not suffered by others, who are by far the vast majority of subscribers.

"As the economy continues to flounder (after all the DJIA has dropped more than 674 points in the last two days) the government should be doing everything possible to encourage investment and innovation. The net neutrality rules will instead stifle new and exciting advances in technology," Schatz concluded.

• I urge you to support Senator Hutchison’s S.J.Res. 6, an effort under the Congressional Review Act to overturn the rule.

• The arguments made by advocates of such regulations have been proven false by nearly a decade of experience since their concerns were first raised. The Internet is a remarkable free market success story, and the vast majority of Internet users are not clamoring for regulation.

• Please do not allow the FCC to distort the law and take extreme measures to seize regulatory control of the Internet. I urge you to do everything necessary to stop the FCC, overturn these regulations, and protect the free-market Internet.