The following statement may be attributed to Free State Foundation President Randolph May regarding today's D.C. Circuit opinion reviewing the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom Order:
"No doubt the FCC scored a major victory today when the D.C. Circuit uphold its fundamental determination that broadband Internet services are not subject to the Commission's regulatory jurisdiction. But no doubt it — and consumers — also suffered a defeat when the court ruled that the agency could not broadly preempt state laws inconsistent with its deregulatory approach. The prospect of various states, like California or New York, imposing public utility-like regulation on Internet providers, and others imposing a patchwork of differing mandates, is more than unappealing — it's almost certainly harmful to the continued investment and innovation that has made the Internet the integrated 'network of networks' that it is today.
So, it’s important that the FCC attempt to overturn the court's preemption ruling. And it is even more important that Congress, finally, enact legislation that would embody a satisfactory national solution that doesn’t include at its core public utility-like regulation of Internet services."
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