The House Communications Subcommittee has scheduled a May 31 hearing on "Internet Proposals to Regulate the Internet."
No witnesses yet, but both Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell and the Obama-appointed head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration Larry Strickling have very definite opinions on the subject.
McDowell, for example, has said that his number one concern is the prospect of the International Telecommunications Union becoming an international Internet governance body.
McDowell is concerned that the wrong framework could result in "an international regulatory layer over such things as domain name administration, cybersecurity, setting engineering standards and the economics of Internet traffic in the last mile, middle mile and the backbone." He calls the move from a multistakeholder model to a more ITU-centric one the potential next big threat to the Internet." His concern is shared by many in the Obama Administration.
