President Obama came to Cedar Falls in January and asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to shutdown outdated state laws that restrict the expansion of broadband Internet access.

Six weeks later, the FCC voted to classify the Internet as a public utility and regulate it under the Communications Act of 1934. That means the Internet now resides in the same category as a law that was written to regulate monopoly phone companies during the Great Depression.

In order to make this move, the FCC reversed its ruling from the 1990s that classified the Internet as an information service. Under federal law, information services are only lightly regulated, and that played a big role in the Internet’s explosive growth.

Without a government bureaucracy to approve or reject every new proposal, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other digital companies were free to invent and experiment in real time. Competition in the marketplace was intense. Companies like Netscape, Compuserve, and America Online rose and fell, but customers always had options.

None of that would have happened, at least not with the same speed and agility, had the FCC labeled the Internet a communications service and regulated it under Title II, which involves extensive government oversight.

The rapid innovation that has been the hallmark of the Internet is at risk. Internet Service Providers are being moved from a permissive, loosely regulated bureaucratic framework to one that’s highly restrictive.

Waiting to get permission from the government before launching new, innovative services is going to put this country back while the rest of the world moves forward.

In order for this country’s brightest minds and economy to really flourish, the last thing Congress should do is create new regulations similar to those in place when our country’s finances were at their worst. Simply put, over- regulation stifles innovation.

It is disappointing to see the government scale down the growth of one of our country’s most dynamic industries.

Jon Troen is president of the Mittera Group, a multi-platform communications company.