By Kamilla Kovacs, Media Access Project

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski should remember one simple message as his agency clarifies its authority over Internet access services: The agency’s job is to serve the public. Accordingly, the FCC’s primary concern should be the needs of the nation, not those of big telecommunications or cable carriers.

Yet last week, Chairman Genachowski held closed-door meetings with industry, in an effort to search in vain for a compromise on open Internet principles and other public interest protections. Despite its goal to serve the public, the FCC did not invite citizens’ organizations to the table at these meetings, and did not divulge details regarding the discussions that took place.

The agency should put a stop to such private meetings with industry, and must continue an open dialogue on the future of broadband directly with the American people, who are the real stakeholders in these critical decisions. Keeping the process transparent will stay true to the Obama promise of an open government.

Roughly two years have passed since Candidate Obama began to build a nationwide following around common dreams of “change” and “hope.” He spoke of encouraging public service and fostering a culture in which the American people could take on serious energy, health care, finance, and foreign policy challenges. He promised an open Internet, to give all communities equal access to information and self-empowerment in the digital world. In fact, Candidate Obama built his remarkably successful campaign using the open Internet. His statements on all of these topics promised a government built on dedication, honesty, and transparency, and he motivated thousands of undecided or apathetic voters to believe that corporate influence and backroom deals would no longer rule Washington.

These dreams can still become reality, but they require bold leadership at all layers of government – including the FCC. Chairman Genachowski must engage his Commission to follow President Obama’s leadership on transparency and accountability. Yet the FCC’s closed-door meetings did not echo such an approach.

The groundswell of corporate lobbying dollars being spent by AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and others to weaken Chairman Genachowski’s stance on his broadband oversight proposals should not surprise the Commission. These companies are doing their jobs as profit-seeking entities working to ensure maximum returns for their shareholders.

But as our nation has experienced, and as Candidate Obama recognized, the private sector sometimes does not act in the public’s best interest. Unchecked market forces actually can foreclose possibilities for growth and access, shut out innovation, and even cause environmental, financial, or medical disasters. The federal government must set reasonable rules of the road for us to have fair and safe markets, promoting innovation, investment, and industry by ensuring a level playing field for all.  Regulators must fill in gaps and close harmful loopholes to ensure long-term national benefit.

The truth is that Internet service providers have never been leaders in innovation. The seemingly limitless possibilities for access, collaboration, and commerce online that we see today are the work of content and application producers, who have relied on the open Internet to create brand new businesses and products. With a strong and effective FCC, able to continue protecting users’ access to the Internet, this new economy will continue to grow.

Without fair and clear ground rules set by the FCC, on the other hand, big cable and telecom companies will decide how and when their customers can access information on jobs, educational opportunities, health care, and civic participation.  Historically marginalized groups will have to continue to endure media representation that has little or no relevance to the struggles these communities face daily. And as recent disasters on Wall Street and in the Gulf have shown, we all lose when powerful business interests get to set their own rules and prioritize their own huge windfalls over public safety and transparency.

The FCC has proposed restoring the light-touch oversight of broadband Internet access that the agency exercised during the last several years. The proposal is fair, reasonable, and timely. Chairman Genachowski must move ahead with the transparent, committed proceeding he promised to implement in that plan. He must not compromise on open Internet principles, and cannot allow special interest pressure at the FCC and on Capitol Hill to weaken the Commission’s power to protect consumers online.

Genachowski’s actions today will define the future of online business and public access to information on the most democratic, participatory communications platform of our lifetime.

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