June 3, 2009 11:21AM 

# Obama’s FCC Pick to Seek Internet Regulation 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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[*Politico* reports](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23210.html) that President Obama’s nominee to head the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, is expected to pursue “ ‘net neutrality” regulation of broadband Internet service.

In his paper, [The Durable Internet: Preserving Network Neutrality without Regulation](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9775), Tim Lee shows why regulation is not needed to preserve the good engineering principle he calls “end-to-end.” His paper also shows how regulation intended to serve consumer-friendly ends is often captured and used by regulated industries to suppress competition and artificially raise profits, denying consumers the benefits of free markets.

##### Related Tags 

[Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) 

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