The FCC's decision to embrace net neutrality has already fired up the Right.
Conservative news website Newsmax said, "FCC takes first step in federal control over Internet" and goes on to say:
"The FCC's approach is strongly opposed by cable and telecom companies which provide wired and wireless Internet service, along with congressional Republicans who have already launched hearings and inquiries into the FCC's rulemaking. They say that the reclassification of the Internet will burden the industry with unnecessary regulation."
Of course, the cable and telecom companies opposed the decision: it prevents them from taking control of the Internet. Congressional Republicans oppose it because (a) President Obama supported it and (b) because they know which side of their campaign bread is buttered and where that butter comes from.
Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly voted against the decision. Pai accused the Commission of kowtowing to Obama's support for net neutrality.
"We shouldn't be a rubber stamp to political decisions made by the White House," Pai said.
It's perhaps ironic that Pai, a Republican, was nominated for his post by President Obama.
Pai went on to say the vote was a shift to government control of the Internet. He predicted the action would lead to higher prices for Internet service, slower speeds, fewer innovations and less choice.
Like, oh, say, the merger of Time Warner and Comcast? Or "fast lanes?"
The only innovations I have seen lately from Comcast is a name change to escape its reputation for abysmal customer service.
O'Rielly, another Republican who used to be a policy wonk for Senators John Cornyn, Jon Kyl and John Sununu, called it a "monumental and unlawful power grab."
Speaking of John Sununu, Newsmax quoted a statement from the good Senator and Harold Ford Jr., honorary co-chairs of the group Broadband for America, an advocacy group for (surprise) the big Internet companies.
"(the FCC's Action was)...one giant step backwards for America's broadband networks and everyone else who depends on them. These 'Title II' rules go far beyond protecting the Open Internet, launching a costly and destructive era of government micromanagement that will discourage private investment in new networks and slow down the breakneck innovation that is the soul of the Internet today."
An interesting description of an action that basically ensures open and equal access to the Internet for everyone and prohibits preferential treatment. One might think that Broadband for America is opposed to that.
And what would Sununu care about a soul, anyway? He sold his long ago.
The statement went on to say:
"There is only one solution: now is the time for Congress to act, to enshrine the Open Internet into law, end the gamesmanship, and secure America's continued leadership in the global Internet economy. Congressional legislation permanently codifying core net neutrality protections into law can end legal uncertainty, clarify the FCC's role and protect the bipartisan-led framework that has advanced the extraordinary growth of high speed Internet for nearly two decades."
In other words, since the 800-pound gorillas couldn't buy off the FCC, they want the ball kicked to their allies in Congress, who they have already bought.
Frankly, if anyone is taking over the Internet, I would rather it be the FCC than Time Warner-Comcast.