[opendtv] FCC issues net neutrality rules in face of Congress and carriers
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:40:10 -0500
I think that "net neutrality" is one of those simplistic sound bytes that
politicians have a habit of taking too literally, in their confusion. It's all
in the details.
What a lot of kids seem to want is infinite upstream bandwidth, to be able to
host their own web sites. I think this "net neutrality" is often a euphamism
for that.
Bert
-----------------------------------------
http://www.rethink-wireless.com/article.asp?article_id=2057
FCC issues net neutrality rules in face of Congress and carriers
By CAROLINE GABRIEL
Published: 23 October, 2009
As the FCC approves draft proposals on wireline and wireless net neutrality in
the US, the Supercomm show in Chicago this week has been dominated by the
carriers' angry response. One by one, senior executives used their keynote
spots to argue that heavy regulation and neutrality will damage network and
service quality, because it will deter players from investing heavily in new
technologies.
This was the message from Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, who warned: "This is an
analog policy that is not built for a digital universe", while the firm's EVP
of public affairs, Tom Tauke, said that net neutrality rules failed to address
core issues of network management, opening up dangers of security breaches and
poor service performance.
"You've got to be careful and not do something really stupid," he said.
Private equity groups and other investors expressed fears that neutrality would
make return on investment in telecoms even more uncertain and accelerate the
flight of capital that has been seen over the past three years.
With such comments ringing in its collective ear, the FCC published its
proposals nonetheless, and was immediately countered by proposed legislation to
block the actions. Introduced by former presidential candidate Senator John
McCain, the Internet Freedom Act would prevent the FCC from enacting rules to
stop broadband providers from selectively blocking or slowing certain internet
content and applications. Net neutrality rules would create "onerous federal
regulation", wrote McCain, calling them a "government takeover" of the internet
that would stifle innovation. The wireless industry has "exploded over the past
20 years due to limited government regulation," McCain said in the statement.
The rules proposed by the FCC, which would formalize recommendations in place
since 2005 and extend them to wireless, would allow web users to run any legal
applications and access any legal web sites unfettered by the carriers, and
would require service providers to use "reasonable" network management to
reduce congestion and maintain quality of service. The rules would also require
them to be transparent with consumers about these efforts and the quality of
their networks.
The FCC now will seek public comment on its proposed rules, with the goal of
finalizing them some time next year. The rules almost certainly will be
challenged in court as well as Congress.
Meanwhile, the FCC's broadband coordinator, Blair Levin (executive director of
the Omnibus Broadband Initiative) told Supercomm that mobile broadband would be
the biggest driver of growth , but only if the US gains more spectrum, which
will mainly rely on clearing current bands of incumbents. "I hope policy makers
understand the seriousness of it," Levin said, adding that the plan needs to be
formulated now, since it can take six to 13 years to clear spectrum.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at
FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
