Obama Taps Former FCC Attorney for FCC Chair

by Barbara Fought

The president-elect has selected a Harvard classmate and former FCC attorney, Julius Genachowski, as the new FCC Chair, according to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. His appointment must be approved by the Senate. The Times reports that Genachowski helped draft telecom and technology policies for the Obama campaign.

Genachowski worked as a top advisor to the FCC head during the Clinton administration, and earlier clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Brennan and Souter.

Two key issues that the new FCC will deal with is whether to support "network neutrality," a policy allowing all traffic to flow on the Internet at equal speeds (rather than allow heavy users to pay more to get faster service) and the enforcement of indecency.

• How does politics affect administrative law (one of the 6 types of law)?


• Thousands of people in recent years complained to the FCC about increasing sexual content on over-the-air TV and the FCC responded by enforcing fleeting expletives and raising fines for indecency to $325,000 per instance. Do you think this is good public policy? How does US law on sexual content compare to other countries' laws?