FCC Chair Says Law Should Be Updated

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell said U.S. law should be updated to reflect the rise of new technologies since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was enacted.

“I do believe there is going to have to be a statute in the future that recognizes these dramatic technical changes and gets us out of the buckets of the 1996 act,” he said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.

The committee is considering the implications of the rise of Internet-based phone and data transmissions. Some calls that are routed over the Internet aren’t subject to taxes or a surcharge that helps extend service to people in sparsely populated areas.