Obama’s FCC Pick Loves Net Neutrality

Aside from having a sweet name, Julius Genachowski is known as an advocate for net neutrality — the idea that broadband service providers shouldn’t discriminate between the many ways its customers use the Internet. Now, he’s officially President Barack Obama’s choice to chair the Federal Communications Commission. Genachowski is largely credited with making Obama’s campaign Web-friendly as an adviser, and he likely had something to do with Obama’s support for net neutrality during the presidential race. The FCC chairman during President George W. Bush’s tenure, Kevin Martin, wasn’t as much of a stickler on this issue. In addition to net neutrality, Genachowski supported extending broadband to rural area — an idea that he’ll be responsible for implementing with all the stimulus money going around. [via Electronista]