IPI General Press Release - FCC Proposal to Increase Internet Regulations Would Jeopardize Innovation

	Press Release from the Institute for Policy Innovation FCC Proposal to Increase Internet Regulations Would Jeopardize Innovation By Erin Humiston on 09/21/2009
	DALLAS, TX: If new rules proposed today by the Federal Communications Commission against network management practices are adopted, they will undoubtedly jeopardize not only the future of new and currently unforeseen innovations in Internet services, but also current services that consumers have come to expect and enjoy. "'Openness' is a red herring, just as broadband speed is a red herring," said Bartlett Cleland, director of the Institute for Policy Innovation Center for Technology Freedom. "Openness and speed are merely arbitrary goals." Cleland urges policymakers to focus instead on principles that serve the public, such as achieving greater innovation or enhanced private investment which leads to new jobs and further economic growth. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is correct that results of Internet policymaking need not be pro-consumer or pro-business, rather that both may gain, as IPI has repeatedly stated in comments to the FCC and elsewhere. The marketplace, as well as the current regulatory and legal environment, has already succeeded in delivering just that. "On the other hand, 'net neutrality' is nothing more than sweet-sounding words to obscure an attempt to involve the government in directing private sector investment and business models," said Cleland. "The discussion regarding where investment should take place should be left to consumers and business owners." "The sort of aggressive regulation, as proposed today, by making rules out of guidelines even while inserting an expanded menu of regulatory guidelines, is one more step toward dismantling current and discouraging future innovation," said Cleland. "The steady drumbeat of continued Internet regulation must end," said Cleland. The FCC should reject network neutrality proposals and continue championing market-based alternatives which have and will continue to yield robust innovation, growth and investment--the hallmarks of the Internet boom for over a decade. The Institute for Policy Innovation is an independent, nonprofit public policy organization based in Dallas, Texas. Experts are available for interview by contacting Erin Humiston at (972) 874-5139, or erin@ipi.org.