Julius Genachowski’s rise from a Long Island yeshiva to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission puts him in command of regulating the Internet.
How should the United States regulate the Internet? (Who says it needs to be regulated? — Ed.)
The answer to this question — which affects the flow of information and culture, the growth of the economy and the future of communications, education and democracy itself — rests largely in the hands of Julius Genachowski, a 48-year-old Jew from Long Island with knowledge of Talmud and an appointment to one of the most critical policy posts in Washington.
If his December 1 proposal to address Internet regulation is any indication, Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission since June 2009, is seeking a solution in a very Jewish way: He issued a compromise in the pitched debate over the Internet’s openness, a concept often referred to as net neutrality.
Calls for increased regulation stem from consumer groups and liberals who say that the lack of competition between Internet service providers is detrimental to Internet users — especially when service providers can freely block or slow down content that competes with their own offerings, or offer different speeds and access levels based on price.