(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski May Porker of the Month for his recent decision to push forward with an ill-conceived and possibly extra-legal plan to impose federal regulations on the Internet.
The plan would treat the Internet by rules similar to those which currently pertain to the telephone industry under Title II of the Communications Act.
“Chairman Julius Genachowski is leading the FCC into uncharted waters, straight into a legal headwind. In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia laid down an unambiguous marker: the FCC has no authority to force Internet service providers (ISPs) to give equal treatment to all Internet content flowing through their networks, nor can it regulate ISPs under Title II without Congress’s express authority. The agency is out of its depth and will end up sinking time and the taxpayers’ money into harassing an industry that is functioning very well without ham-fisted government regulations,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.
“Chairman Genachowski is attempting to circumvent the court’s decision by seeking what he calls a ‘third way’ to insinuate the federal government into the workings of the Internet,” continued Schatz. “This mystical proposition belies the manifest reality: the taxpayers will be footing the bill for a giant new regulatory and enforcement bureaucracy to address an Internet crisis that does not exist. Chairman Genachowski’s third way is the wrong way.”
“Broadband providers and their customers neither want nor need the FCC’s interference, which would stifle the innovation that has driven the success of the Internet. Chairman Genachowski’s announcement simply confirms that, regardless of what the courts or public opinion say, this administration will continue its takeover after takeover of vital U.S. industries. Its next target for conquest is the Internet, by any means necessary,” concluded Schatz.
For launching this damn-the-torpedoes (and the taxpayers), full-speed-ahead quest to regulate the Internet, CAGW names FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski its May 2010 Porker of the Month.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.