The Core

 Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, says he's keeping that question in mind as he pitches the biggest regulatory shake-up to the telecommunications industry since 1996, when people still used noisy modems and referred to the "information superhighway" as a fun way to buy books or check the weather.

Wheeler has not publicly released his plan yet, and might not for a few weeks. But he has suggested that Internet service has become as critical to people in the United States as water, electricity or phone service and should be regulated like any other public utility.

Wheeler told reporters this past week that he wants "yardsticks in place to determine what is in the best interest of consumers as opposed to what is in the best interest of the gatekeepers."

That has the industry sounding the alarms, warning consumers of an inevitable $72 annual tax increase on each U.S. wireless account. But advocates of the approach say that is not likely to happen and that your Internet experience probably will carry on as usual.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/internet-federal-rules-answer-28625552

I love the telecoms. They took billions in government subsidies aimed at rolling out hihg-speed internet and spent most of that money lobbying the government to change the definition of broadband so that existing infrastructure qualified. Now suddenly they are worried about how much it's going to cost us if the govt gets involved. The main reason I distrust the government on this is because the elected representatives have been bought and sold by telecom money.

Frankly, in this case, I'd rather have career technocrats with jobs that are not political appointments making these decisions than telecoms or paid-off legislators.