Cheney/Bush US Judiciary Strikes AGAINST “Net Neutrality”

The deleterious effects of the Cheney / Bush regime continue through their “packing” of the Federal Circuit and District Courts with pro-corporate, right-wing judges –

The deleterious effects of the Cheney / Bush regime continue through their “packing” of the Federal Circuit and District Courts with pro-corporate, right-wing judges –

The deleterious effects of the Cheney / Bush regime continue through their “packing” of the Federal Circuit and District Courts with pro-corporate, right-wing judges –

The deleterious effects of the Cheney / Bush regime continue through their “packing” of the Federal Circuit and District Courts with pro-corporate, right-wing judges –

many of whom, like Chief Justice John Roberts, are young, and can look forward to decades in their life-time tenure jobs, as the specious reasoning by the court in this crucial case sadly indicates.

A federal appeals court dealt a sharp blow to the efforts of the Federal Communications Commission to set the rules of the road for the Internet, ruling that the agency lacks the authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks, as noted by the New York Times [br]…

Tuesday’s court ruling has far larger implications than just the case at hand, involving Comcast.

The ruling would allow Internet service providers to restrict consumers’ ability to access certain kinds of Internet content, such as video sites like Hulu.com or Google’s YouTube service, or charge certain heavy users of their networks more money for access.[br]

Google, Microsoft and other big producers of Web content have argued that such controls or pricing policies would thwart innovation and customer choice.

Consumer advocates said the ruling, one of several that have challenged the F.C.C.’s regulatory reach, could also undermine all of the F.C.C.’s efforts to regulate Internet service providers and establish its authority over the Internet, including its recently released national broadband plan.

“This decision destroys the F.C.C.’s authority to build broadband policy on the legal theory established by the Bush administration,” said Ben Scott, the policy director for Free Press, a nonprofit organization that advocates broad media ownership and access.

The decision could reinvigorate dormant efforts in Congress to pass a federal law specifically governing net neutrality, a principle generally supported by the Obama administration…

Members of Congress have expressed concern that Comcast will now have the power to favor the content of its own cable and broadcast channels over those of competitors,

something that Comcast has said it does not intend to do – which, of course, no one would have any reason to doubt 😉 .

Now, members of Congress could also fret that Comcast will also block or slow down customers’ access to the Web sites of competing television and telecommunications companies.