The FCC’s action begins a new chapter of competing visions for the Internet — one where government regulators play a central role in directing how the Internet evolves, versus one in which entrepreneurs, private enterprise and consumers expressing their preferences set the terms for the future. The latter has a superior record in delivering value to consumers. The former has repeatedly failed.

The Federal Communications Commission just approved one of the most expansive regulatory actions in the agency’s history. In one stroke, the commission has tainted its independence, radically departed from a decades-old bipartisan national policy of not regulating the Internet and expansively broadened its regulatory power without direction from Congress.

On Thursday, the FCC passed Net neutrality regulation that reclassifies broadband as a Title II service, akin to the old telephone network — a sweeping move that has significant regulatory implications, not just for Internet service providers, but for the entire broadband market including edge providers, middle-mile operators, and backbone facilities that together make up the interconnected networks of the Internet.

The commission justified these measures under the banner of preserving Net neutrality; yet it has gone well beyond that reasonable objective. In fact, there is little disagreement over the substance of open Internet principles. The cable industry has lived by the Four Freedoms that I laid out as FCC chairman roughly a decade ago — freedom to access content, to run applications, to attach devices and to obtain service plan information. We further accepted the FCC’s effort in 2010 to adopt rules reflecting these freedoms and sought to live by this policy rather than litigate. And since then, we have faithfully adhered to these important consumer protections in building an open Internet even though a more recent court decision threw out two of the three rules.

In the short term, the Internet will not work differently. But the price we will pay over time for this radical shift in regulation will be severe.

The FCC has said it wants to protect an open Internet, but its actions extend well beyond Net neutrality. Instead, it is ushering in a backward-looking regulatory regime that is unsuited to the dynamic and innovative Internet. Thursday’s vote will allow the FCC to regulate rates, set terms and conditions of business relationships, and dramatically increase the cost of network deployment. It also gives state and federal governments new opportunities to impose taxes and fees on consumer bills.

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