In today’s edition of our Online Supporter Week, we here at Broadband for America are turning the spotlight on efforts to enforce unnecessary regulatory burdens on the Internet through so-called “reclassification” and net neutrality.

In short, Internet reclassification would impose the same 1930’s style of regulations created for the telephone industry on the world of high-speed Internet. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski made the proposal after a majority of House members and a growing bipartisan coalition of U.S. Senators came out against net neutrality.

First and foremost, any attempts at reclassification should raise red flags because it attempts to circumvent the democratic process by allowing an unelected body to enact sweeping regulatory burdens on our nation’s economy and communications system. Any such attempt is deeply unpopular with the American public, as a recent survey found strong majorities opposed to increased Internet regulation.

In addition to the growing opposition from Congress, business leaders and several leading minority organizations also oppose reclassification. That’s because research has found that reclassification would eliminate at least 500,000 jobs from the workforce and result in an $80 billion dollar loss in GDP.

As Honorary BfA Co-Chair Michael Powell told the Washington Post:

“I hate the idea of Title II for broadband. I think we would really regret it because for a regulator versed in what it means, it means thousands and thousands of pages that would fall into this space and we would spend our lifetime trying to clean it up. And the real worry is that we will enter another prolonged period of litigation.”

“I don’t think three un-elected commissioners – no matter how glowing their decisions and resumes are – are the right people to make the right decisions.”

Internet reclassification would also increase the digital divide at a time when broadband adoption is seeing significant increases amongst African-Americans and Latinos. That’s why reclassification is opposed by leading figures including Minority Media and Telecommunications Council President David Honig and Reverend Roosevelt Watkins III, Co-Director, Ministerial Alliance Against the Digital Divide

As the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators said in their recent findings:

“The recently released National Broadband Plan (NBP) identifies appropriate policy solutions that focus on adoption and accessibility issues, however, the ongoing battle over net neutrality, including the FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski’s intent to invoke certain provision of Title II could threaten the very goals set forth in the NBP.”

But don’t just take our word for it; Several leading national newspapers, including the Washington Post, called any such changes “unacceptable;” the Chicago Tribune and the Denver Post also oppose reclassification.

In this time of economic uncertainty, the last thing we need is unnecessary regulatory burdens that would reduce investment from the private sector and eliminate high-paying and quality jobs from the workforce. The broadband economy has been one of the bright spots in an otherwise challenging environment and that success story should be allowed to continue.