• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, June 15, 2010

Four senators, including former presidential candidate John Kerry (D-Mass.) are urging colleagues on the appropriations committee to reject an attempt to thwart the Federal Communications Commission from going ahead with neutrality rules.

In a letter sent to Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), the senators say they oppose any attempt to block the FCC "from using its existing legal authority to preserve an open Internet, protect consumers, and provide rural residents and Americans with disabilities with access to today's broadband Internet services."

The letter is in response to a threat last week by Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) to introduce an appropriations bill amendment that would ban the FCC from using funds to "regulate the Internet." Joining Kerry in the letter were Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ron Wyden (D-Oreg.), and Tom Udall (D-N.M.).

The developments mark the latest maneuvers in an ongoing battle about whether Internet service providers should be required to treat all content and applications equally.

The FCC said in a 2005 policy statement that ISPs shouldn't discriminate against particular types of content or services. But a federal appellate court recently ruled that the commission lacks authority to enforce that statement because broadband is considered an information service, not a telecommunications service. FCC Chair Julius Genachowski now wants to reclassify broadband -- or at least broadband transmission -- as a telecommunications service. Doing so would be the first step towards enacting neutrality regulations.

He already proposed the reclassification informally. On Thursday, the FCC is expected to vote on whether to move forward with the plan.

Whether Genachowski's proposal goes anywhere or not, it's certainly worth discussing given the current state of broadband. At present, some ISPs have obvious incentives to throttle traffic, given that the availability of free online video threatens paid TV subscriptions. A lack of competition among providers -- in many parts of the country consumers can only choose between their local telecom or cable company -- makes the threat of blocking worse.

Even if the FCC doesn't enact new regulations, the prospect of neutrality rules has already spurred industry groups to start discussing self-regulatory standards. Such standards wouldn't be equivalent to legally enforceable rules, but are probably better than nothing -- which is what we might end up with if the FCC is prevented from continuing to examine the issue.