• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, May 11, 2010

A backlash against the net neutrality plan proposed by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski picked up steam on Tuesday, as one lawmaker introduced legislation stripping the FCC of some power while a right-wing think tank began running anti-regulation TV ads.

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) introduced the Internet Investment, Innovation, and Competition Preservation Act (H.R. 5257), which would prohibit the FCC from regulating Internet access services without evidence of a market failure.

"I see no reason for Internet regulation. Yet, if there is ever a cause for regulation, it is a decision to be made by Congress -- not the FCC," Stearns, ranking member of the Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee, said in a statement.

Stearns' bill would ban the FCC from enacting neutrality rules absent "substantial evidence that the market failure is causing specific, identified harm to consumers by preventing a substantial number of consumers nationwide from accessing a substantial amount of lawful Internet content, applications, and services of their choice on a continuing basis."

The measure also appears to require the FCC to apply any neutrality rules it promulgates to content providers as well as broadband access companies.

Stearns' proposal comes several days after Genachowski issued a plan to reclassify broadband transmission as a "telecommunications service," subject to some of the same common carrier rules that apply to telephone companies. Specifically, Genachowski proposed placing broadband transmission within Title II of the Telecommunications Act, while also agreeing to forbear from imposing provisions that are "unnecessary and inappropriate for broadband access service."

If the reclassification goes through, the FCC would be able to issue neutrality rules banning providers from discriminating against particular sites or applications by either degrading or prioritizing traffic. The FCC currently lacks that ability because broadband is considered an "information" service.

Net neutrality advocacy group Free Press blasted Stearns' proposal. "This bill essentially serves no purpose other than as a political declaration of opposition to the FCC's broadband policy," said research director S. Derek Turner.

He added that the current duopoly structure for broadband, in which many consumers have a choice of only two Internet service providers, shows there already is a market failure. "ISPs have been caught blocking legal content," he said. "The threat is real."

Stearns isn't the only one who publicly opposed net neutrality rules on Tuesday. The conservative group Americans for Prosperity also launched an ad campaign asking people to tell their representatives that no new laws regarding the Web are needed.

"We're urging Congress to pass legislation that preempts what the FCC is trying to do," says Americans for Prosperity Vice President Phil Kerpen.

He adds that his organization believes that neutrality regulations will deter companies from investing in networks. The 30-second ads, produced by McCarthy Marcus Hennings, are running nationally on Fox News and also in markets in Pennsylvania and Hawaii. Political consultants Mentzer Media Services handled the media buy.

The spots show dominos falling as a female voice says, first it was the banks, then insurance, then car companies, then health care. Now it's the Internet." The voiceover continues: "So why does Washington want to fix the Internet when the Internet isn't broken?"