(FORTUNE Magazine) – It takes a lot of work to find the Federal Communications Commission. You have to trudge south from the National Mall and pass eight other sprawling, squat buildings until you reach the one that houses FCC headquarters. No arrows point the way. The neighboring American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is more prominently signposted.

For years the agency was as obscure as its location. No longer. The FCC is Washington's hottest regulator. What started in 1934 as a New Deal licensor of radio stations is fast becoming the governmental gatekeeper for the exploding world of the Internet and telecom. "The FCC has been the focus of some of the most important policy decisions that go to the heart of the new economy," says Peter Ross, an ex-FCC staffer now at the law firm Wiley Rein & Fielding.

The question is, Will the FCC become more aggressive or more benign as its jurisdiction grows? David Saylor, an ex-FCC attorney now at the law firm Hogan & Hartson, says, "The underlying philosophy of the FCC is to deregulate or to minimize regulation, and allow the marketplace to operate." But events may not unfold that way. One key is who wins the White House and which party controls Congress. Al Gore and the Democrats would be more active, while George W. Bush and the Republicans would be less so.

Yet the sheer growth of telecommunications and broadband technologies suggests that pressure will exist for additional regulation no matter who wins the election. Here are some of the weighty questions that the newly beefed-up agency will have to consider:

--Should it regulate the Internet? So far the answer has largely been no. But the FCC seems to be steeling itself for the inevitability of Net regulation. Cable companies are offering telephony, telephone companies are offering video, and everyone wants to offer the Internet, often in wireless forms. FCC commissioner Michael Powell, son of Colin Powell and a potential Cabinet officer in a Bush Administration, frets about having to regulate in a broadband era with telephone-era rules. But FCC commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth says, "A lot of folks in Washington would very much like to see Internet regulation." They probably will.

--Should the FCC meddle in mergers? The agency will continue to make sure that corporate combinations are in the "public interest." But lawmakers were so upset with the FCC's recent reviews (Chairman William Kennard's objections helped kill MCI WorldCom's merger with Sprint) that legislation was floated to limit the FCC's powers. That was mostly chest thumping. Still, policymakers may try to curb the FCC, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Justice Department, especially as mergers go more global. One merger currently under scrutiny: America Online's purchase of Time Warner, FORTUNE's parent.

--Should the agency insist on open access and universal service for emerging technologies? Expect Congress and others to call for service for everyone and the industry to fight over how to pay for it. Plans to allow the FCC to impose access charges on companies that provide telephone service over the Internet and to extend universal service subsidies to wireless companies have already bogged down in intra-industry squabbling. There will be other tiffs too, such as whether telephone companies should be allowed to offer both local and national services, whether e-commerce sales should be taxed, and whether cable operators will have to open their systems to all Internet service providers. Kennard has made consumer protection, spectrum availability, and universal service his hallmarks. The next chairman will have his own priorities.

In the meantime, politicians are making the FCC an election issue. Joe Lieberman, Gore's running mate, wrote recently that the way to stop the glut of sex and violence on TV was "Don't watch. Turn it off. Set rules. Then call the FCC." He wasn't kidding; candidates are using the threat of increased FCC regulation to compel Hollywood to stop marketing violent entertainment to teenagers. Clearly, a lot more people will be finding their way to that squat, sprawling building.

--Jeffrey H. Birnbaum