WASHINTON: The Federal Communications Commission announced that it pushed its regular December meeting back by six days. The meeting, originally scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern will now be held Tuesday, Dec. 21 at that hour.
No meeting agenda has been announced, though there is speculation that network neutrality will be addressed via the legal reclassification of broadband. It is now considered an information rather than a telecommunications service and is subject to less regulatory scrutiny. A federal court this year said the commission’s reach did not extend to network neutrality under the information classification.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski favors network neutrality as part of his National Broadband Plan. The scheme would prevent Internet Service Providers from throttling sites, services and individuals who transmit unusually large amounts of data. Had the December meeting date remained as it was, the chairman would have had to circulate his agenda items by today. Moving it back gives his staff something to do over the holidays beside gorge on pie.
-- Deborah D. McAdams
