FTC Urges Restraint On Internet Regulation

The Federal Trade Commission yesterday said policymakers should be cautious about regulating high-speed Internet traffic.

The agency issued a report addressing network neutrality, the notion that all online traffic should be treated equally by Internet service providers.

The issue pits consumer groups and content providers such as Google against large cable and telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Comcast. The telecoms want the option of charging customers more for transmitting certain content, including live video, faster or more reliably than other data.

FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said that without evidence of "market failure or demonstrated consumer harm, policymakers should be particularly hesitant to enact new regulation in this area." The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department have jurisdiction over high-speed Internet access. Congress has considered legislation that would mandate network neutrality.

The FTC also said certain practices that would discriminate among Internet traffic, such as prioritizing some data or providing exclusive deals to content providers, "can benefit consumers."

The Open Internet Coalition, a group that supports network-neutrality legislation, said government protections are necessary to prevent discrimination on the Web.

"After the fact enforcement will do nothing to protect consumers' ability to access the content and applications of their choice," the group said in a statement. "If policymakers wait until widespread discrimination occurs, it will be extremely difficult for Washington to put the new revenue genie of content discrimination back in the bottle."