The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has turned thumbs down on net neutrality.
In a report on broadband availability and connectivity, the FTC found little reason to protect consumers and content providers from attempts by large telecommunications providers to charge more for faster delivery.
"In the absence of significant market failure or demonstrated consumer harm, policy makers should be particularly hesitant to enact new regulation in this area," FTC Chair Deborah Platt Majoras wrote.
Majoras asserted that broadband Internet access was "moving toward more – not less – competition." (Complete statement - pdf file)
“The primary reason for caution is simply that we do not know what the net effects of potential conduct by broadband providers will be on all consumers, including, among other things, the prices that consumers may pay for Internet access, the quality of Internet access and other services that will be offered, and the choices of content and applications that may be available to consumers in the marketplace,” Majoras said.
Majoras' position largely echoed statements she made in 2006 while addressing the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a conservative-oriented think tank.
"Broad regulatory mandates that employ a 'one size fits all' philosophy, without regard to specific facts, always have unintended consequences, some of which may be harmful and some of which may not be known until far into the future, " she said at the time.
FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz issued a separate concurring statement (Complete statement - pdf file) that supported the FTC's position with regards to consumer protection, but said that reactive antitrust actions might not work as well to protect consumers as enacting net neutrality into law.
"The report also soberly reminds us that regulation often has unintended side-effects...But it seems to me equally clear that this report shows that doing nothing may have its costs as well," Leibowitz wrote.