FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski reaffirmed his commitment to network
neutrality Aug. 25. Genachowski helped craft then-presidential candidate Barack
Obama's technology policy, which strongly supports network neutrality.
"One thing I would say so that there is no confusion out there is that
this FCC will support net neutrality and will enforce [its rules in the case of] any violation of net
neutrality principles," Genachowski told newspaper The Hill.
Genachowski's comments come as broadband provider Comcast is asking the court
to overturn the Federal Communications Commission's 2008 decision finding that Comcast
violated the FCC's network neutrality principles by throttling peer-to-peer traffic
from BitTorrent.
Comcast contends that its practices were reasonable under FCC
network management rules and that even if the FCC found Comcast in violation,
the agency's network neutrality principles were based on an
"ancillary" authority the FCC does not possess. Comcast filed its appeal in
September 2008.
Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen said his company appealed the
decision "to protect our legal rights and to challenge the basis on which
the commission found that Comcast violated federal policy in the absence of
pre-existing, legally enforceable standards or rules."
Genachowski, a top aide to two former Democratic FCC chairmen and co-founder
and managing director of LaunchBox Digital and Rock Creek Ventures, with experience
as an executive with Barry Diller's InterActiveCorp and a board member of
several Internet ventures, including Expedia and The Motley Fool, is widely
considered to be architect of President Obama's
Technology and Innovation Plan, which supports "the principle of
network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the
Internet."
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