Congressional Republicans on Wednesday warned that net neutrality regulations expected to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission will cause years of legal uncertainty for the Internet and that the GOP's more restrained legislation on the contentious issue was the best way to address it.
"What the FCC is mostly likely going to vote on tomorrow is net nonsense," said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas). "It's not going to work. It is going to be tested in court and it's going to fail in court."
But some experts testifying at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing Wednesday said it probably would be at least three years before federal judges rule on the promised challenges to the regulations by telecom companies.
And that lengthy period could harm investment in expanding broadband networks and put net neutrality protections at risk because the FCC could be controlled by Republicans at that point after the 2016 election.
"I'm concernd that if Congress does not act, all protection for network neutrality is at risk fo being lost," said Rick Boucher, a former Democratic congressman from Virignia, who now chairs a telecommunications industry trade group called the Internet Industry Alliance.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed tough rules for online traffic, including prohibiting broadband providers from charging websites for faster delivery of their content, that depend on classifying broadband Internet service as a more highly regulated service under title 2 of the telecommunications law.
The move would put broadband in the same utility-like legal category as conventional phone companies, reversing an FCC decision in 2002 classifying it as a more lightly regulated information service.
Wheeler and supporters of his plan said the move provides the best strategy to assure the rules are not tossed out by federal judges.
Twice before, FCC net neutrality rules have been overturned after industry lawsuits. The most recent ruling, in January 2014, said the FCC overstepped its authority by trying to treat Internet service providers as more highly regulated utilities even though the agency hadn’t classified them that way.
With the Democratic-controlled FCC set to approve Wheeler's proposal on a party line 3-2 vote, Republicans said their proposed legislation was a better solution that would ensure basic net neutrality protections but avoid the risks of more expansive agency authority.