Should the FCC regulate Internet providers?

Everyone is trying to control the Internet, or at least have a piece of it. Until now, the Internet grew free, unhampered by regulation and was allowed to grow on its own. But now, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is going head-to-head against Internet service providers.

Genachowski is confident the agency has the authority to regulate Internet service providers. The providers are pushing back, arguing they cannot be regulated like a telephone company.

The debate over a national broadband plan is fanning the flames of this dispute. In two weeks, Genachowski plans to recommend unleashing 500 megahertz of spectrum for the next generation of smartphones, tablet computers and other portable devices that connect people wirelessly to the web. But in an interview at the Washington Post, he declined to say whether the FCC would reclassify broadband service providers to fall under the jurisdiction of the FCC.

Ultimately, Congress will get involved in this dispute over whether the Internet can remain a free entity. And somewhere down the road, the issue is likely to end up at the Supreme Court.

"We are focused on developing the right policies and the FCC will have the authority to implement the right policies," Genachowski said. "We will argue in court that we have the right."

For more on this debate:
- see this Washington Post article