Creative Voices sums up recent FTC and FCC actions (or lack thereof) on net neutrality:

With momentum in Congress building to pass Net Neutrality legislation, the FCC and even the Federal Trade Commission quickly swung into action. The FTC, which has been hostile to Net Neutrality since it emerged as a serious concern, held what it described as a “public workshop on ‘Broadband Connectivity Competition Policy.'” In giving heavily “favored carriage” to panelists hostile to NN, the FTC unintentionally but compellingly demonstrated why NN is so necessary; to preserve the ability of citizens to access all viewpoints over the Internet, including those of independent and diverse voices, and then make their own choices, rather than have the government or the cable and telco companies choose for them.

The FCC also mobilized, launching an official “inquiry” into Net Neutrality. An FCC “inquiry” is often a no-deadline, never-ending process that results in no action. As Brooks Boliek noted in The Hollywood Reporter, critics contend that the FCC “majority on the five-member panel is stalling because they don’t want to do anything to prevent such big network companies as Comcast or Verizon from turning the Internet into their own personal amusement park” That’s spot on; this is little more than an attempt to give NN opponents an argument to fend off calls for meaningful Congressional action to preserve the freedom of consumers to choose what websites they can visit on the Internet.

— Net Neutrality Update, Creative Voices’ 1Q 2007 Newsletter, April 10, 2007

And as we’ve already seen, net neutrality opponents are already using the FCC inquiry for that purpose, even though the inquiry isn’t complete. Continue reading →