Republican senator criticises 'terrible' FCC plans to regulate web

Senate commerce committee chair John Thune said proposals were being pushed an 'increasingly imperious president' and would stifle innovation

The US government is on a path to have "virtually unlimited power" to regulate every aspect of the internet, the chairman of the powerful Senate commerce committee said Wednesday.

Republican senator John Thune slammed the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) plans to introduce sweeping new powers to regulate the broadband industry, saying they would stifle innovation and create a "Mother may I" system for regulating the internet.