Ron Paul: Federal Government Should ‘Keep its Hands Off the Internet’

sputniknews.com The US Federal Communications Commission has made a historic decision to reclassify the Internet as a public utility. Civil liberties groups are cheering, broadband providers are banging their heads, but who’s right? Ron Paul may have a surprising answer. On Thursday, the FCC voted three to two in favor of net neutrality. The Internet will now be regulated as a common carrier service under Title II of the Communications Act. The news rules will make it illegal for service providers to show a preference for certain sites above others. Ostensibly, it will maintain a more open and equal web. But as former presidential candidate Ron Paul points out, this decision was made by an unelected body which has just granted itself broad new regulatory powers. This echoes concerns expressed by many service providers prior to the FCC’s decision, that new regulations could place undue burdens on the industry. “Without the vote of Congress, the people’s branch of government – a federal agency now claims the power to regulate the Internet,” Paul writes in a post for the Ron Paul Institute. According to Paul, the FCC’s decision “represents the largest regulatory power grab in recent history,” and one that could have serious consequences for any administration wishing to quell dissent. “Federal regulation could also open the door to de facto censorship of ideas perceived as threatening to the political class,” Paul writes.