Berners-Lee: Congress should consider net neutrality
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(InfoWorld) - Timothy Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, advocated that the U.S. Congress protect net neutrality and questioned the value of DRM (digital rights management) Thursday. Berners-Lee, speaking before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet in the U.S. House of Representatives, said it was "very, very important" for lawmakers to protect the ability of users to access the Web content they want regardless of their ISP. Berners-Lee didn't endorse specific net neutrality proposals largely supported by congressional Democrats, but he said the Web as a communications medium deserves "special treatment" to protect its nondiscriminatory approach to content. While he was growing up in the U.K., there were high penalties for interfering with mail delivery because mail was one of the main ways to communicate, Berners-Lee said. Now, the Web is a major communications medium worthy of protections, he said. One company or country shouldn't control access to the Web, he added. "We are a society only in as much as we are individuals communicating," said Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web Consortium and author of the first version of HTML. For the past two years, many e-commerce companies and consumer groups have called on Congress to pass a law prohibiting broadband carriers from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors or from speeding up partners' content. In mid-2005, the U.S. Supreme Court and the Federal Communications Commission freed broadband providers from nondiscriminatory carriage rules, and net neutrality backers say large broadband providersÂ like Verizon and ComcastÂ will now be tempted to provide tiered speeds based on which Internet companies pay them the most. Broadband providers and many Republicans have opposed a net neutrality law, andÂ efforts to pass one failed in a Republican-controlled Congress in 2006. Democrats took over Congress this year. While Berners-Lee didn't hear a lot of opposition to his net neutrality comments at the hearing, Representative Mary Bono, a California Republican, challenged his assertion that DRM copy protections could hinder the growth of some parts of the Web. Berners-Lee called for open standards instead of closed DRM technologies. Instead of DRM, copyright holders should "allow people to do the right thing" by providing the information on how to legally use the material, he said. Bono questioned if his idea would prevent mass stealing of copyright materials. "Is that not the equivalent of having a speed limit but not enforcing the speed limit?" she asked. But Berners-Lee suggested DRM limits the market for digital music downloads, echoing recent statements by AppleÂ CEO Steve Jobs. "What is the enforcement for speeding?" he said. "The enforcement for is not that the car grinds to a halt. [Instead of DRM] I'm inclined to make software to allow people to do the right thing first." But Bono said strong protections for digital content are needed. "With great respect to Steve Jobs, he's trying to sell hardware, first and foremost," she said. "I wonder if he would feel the same way about his patents being on the Internet free of patent protection."
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)Â needs to step up its regulation of the telecommunications and broadband industries and reverse its current opposition to net neutrality rules, two consumer groups said Wednesday. Representatives of the Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America criticized the FTC for a lack of focus on telecom and broadband issues while testifying before the U.S. Senate's Interstate Commerce, Trade, and Tourism Subcommittee. The FTC has "failed consumers badly" by insisting there is strong competition in the broadband space and therefore not in need of regulation, said Mark Cooper, director of the Consumer Federation of America. The U.S. has fallen from the world leader in Internet service a decade ago to lagging behind several countries in speed and price, he said. "The cozy [broadband] duopoly in America dribbles out bandwidth at 10 to 20 times what other people pay in the world," Cooper said. "Consumers pay too much for too little in this country." Cooper and Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat and subcommittee chairman, both complained aboutÂ an FTC report in June that questioned the need for net neutrality rulesÂ that would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. Dorgan noted that telecom providers had Internet content nondiscrimination rules in place until the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the Supreme Court removed them in 2005. Without such rules, large broadband providers could block innovative new companies from reaching customers if they require e-commerce vendors to pay extra fees, he said. "We won't know what we miss, we won't know what we squelch," said Dorgan, who has sponsored a net neutrality bill. "What we built, we built with nondiscrimination regulations." But Deborah Platt Majoras, the FTC's chairwoman, said the Internet is changing so fast that new regulations would have unintended consequences andÂ could stop broadband providers from prioritizing traffic that consumers demand be faster, such as video downloads. The FTC sees little evidence of Web content discrimination occurring, she said. "No way is Verizon or any of these other companies powerful enough to disrupt the amount of consumer-generated content that's out there," Majoras said. "If they suddenly put a stop to that, there will be a hue and cry across this nation like no tomorrow, and they will lose a lot of customers." Majoras called on Congress to wait with net-neutrality regulations until there's a problem with blocked content. Dorgan disagreed. "I think both the lack of informed public policy and the lack of effective competition means we have one-twentieth the speed at twice the price of Internet service that many of our foreign competitors have," he said. "My hope is that you'll agree with me that rather than wait for bad things to happen, we might want to preserve the same nondiscrimination rules that we've always had." In addition to the net-neutrality debate, Chris Murray, senior counsel at Consumers Union, called on the FTC to keep a close eye on advertising for bundled telecom services, such as voice, data, and television service together. In some cases, advertising for bundled services has not reflected the real prices, Murray said. In addition, broadband providers have cut off customers for using too much bandwidth without defining a limit on bandwidth. "If that's not an unfair and deceptive practice, I don't know what is," Murray said.
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As Senate prepares to consider a Net access ban extension, Democrat behind original ban warns changes to current law approved by the House of Representatives could make that so.
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. consumers should be allowed to take phones along with them when they switch wireless carriers, and spectrum to be auctioned through the U.S. Federal Communications Commission should include rules requiring the winning bidders to sell access to competitors at wholesale rates, some U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday. Some members of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet also questioned what they called huge early termination fees on wireless telephone contracts. But other lawmakers and executives with wireless carriers questioned the need for new wireless regulations, saying an already competitive market protects customers. The U.S. wireless industry is "vigorously competitive," with four national and several regional carriers, said Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican. New net neutrality and open access rules that would require carriers to open up their networks to new devices and applications could slow wireless innovations, he said. "We should take care to not adopt policies that would set back the highly competitive wireless market," he added. "No matter how you slice it, forced network neutrality smothers investment in a competitive market and in the end will leave consumers worse off with probably fewer choices." But other members of the subcommittee, mostly Democrats, questioned why phones can't switch between wireless networks. U.S. customers should also be able to run any applications they want on wireless networks instead of having limited choices approved by the carrier, said Representative Mike Doyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat. "It's time for consumers to become the deciders of what they want their phones to do," Doyle said. Apple's recent launch of its iPhone demonstrates the "promise and problems" of the U.S. wireless industry, added Representative Ed Markey, the subcommittee chairman and a Massachusetts Democrat. While the iPhone has innovative new technologies, U.S. customers can use it with only one wireless carrier, AT&T, he said. Other lawmakers called on the FCC to go farther than requiring device portability and application choices when it sets the rules for the use of spectrum to be auctioned in the 700MHz band. Part of the 60MHz of spectrum to be auctioned by early next year should include requirements for the winner to offer the spectrum at wholesale rates to other wireless and broadband providers, said Representative Chip Pickering, a Mississippi Republican. A wholesale rule would allow new wireless broadband providers to spring up all over the country, Pickering said. The 700MHz spectrum, now used by U.S. television stations for over-the-air broadcasts, would allow for long-range wireless broadband services, many experts say. The wholesale rule wouldn't put new regulations on existing wireless services, Pickering said. "What's wrong with that?" he asked. There's nothing wrong with a carrier voluntarily deciding to wholesale its spectrum, said Steven Zipperstein, general counsel for Verizon Wireless. "We don't think a business model should be hardwired into the auction by regulatory fiat," he said. Ed Evans, CEO of startup carrier Stelera Wireless, questioned whether a wholesale business model would succeed in the new spectrum. "You're going to give up a scarce resource ... that you're not going to be able to recoup the value on," he said. "You're going to prohibit other people from deploying proven technologies in that same area." But Jason Devitt, cofounder and former CEO of Vindigo, a company that distributes local guides on mobile phones, said the U.S. needs a more open wireless system where application providers don't have to work out deals with wireless carriers. "We have a regulatory system that doesn't work," said Devitt, now CEO of Skydeck, a wireless startup. "I'm mad as hell that I require permission to innovate in the wireless market." While wireless customers usually have to switch devices when they switch carriers, U.S. television subscribers don't have to buy a new TV set when they switch from cable TV service to satellite, added Timothy Wu, a professor at the Columbia Law School and supporter of open access rules. "There's something strange about this industry," he said. "Even the rules of personal property ... seem to be suppressed."
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Business & money: The regulator must soon decide who will pay to keep the internet up to speed.
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Jerry Archer asks whether Congress has the stomach to tackle big problems looming in cyberspace.
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At a House hearing in Washington, polticians debated whether or not to renew the ban on taxing net access. Opponents say its original purpose, to spur net usage, has long been accomplished.
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Agency seeks public comment as first step in deciding how far Internet service providers can go before they transcend "reasonable network management" and run afoul of federal policy.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Congress may take another crack at net neutrality and related broadband legislation when it returns from a month-long recess next week, but some observers aren't laying odds on either package passing. In June, the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved a wide-ranging broadband bill and the House of Representatives passed its own broadband bill. Both bills would streamline the franchising process telecommunications carriers need to go through to offer Internet Protocol-based television in competition with cable TV. However, both the committee and the House rejected attempts to strengthen net neutrality requirements in the bills. TheÂ battle lines over net neutrality have, if anything, become more defined since those votes, and some people involved in the broadband debate say the legislation is unlikely to pass in a highly politicized election year. Supporters of the broadband bill had hoped to get a vote in the full Senate before its August recess, but Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, placed a hold on the bill, threatening to filibuster it unless stronger net neutrality provisions were added. Wyden wants the Senate to prohibit large broadband providers such as AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. This week, a Wyden spokeswoman said the hold is still on the bill. "We will not lift it until there are strong net neutrality provisions in the bill," she said. Neither side has offered a net neutrality compromise during the August congressional recess, said a spokesman of one organization involved in the debate. TheÂ net neutrality debate has turned largely into a partisan issue, at least on Capitol Hill. Many Democrats have sided with consumer groups and many large e-commerce companies backing a strong net neutrality requirement. Many Republicans have backed the large broadband providers and network equipment vendors opposed to a new law. Congressional leaders have targeted Oct. 6 as the adjournment date for the year. The entire House and one third of the Senate is up for re-election in November, and many observers say it will be difficult to pass controversial legislation during the last days of the congressional session. If the legislation doesn't pass this year, the new Congress would have to start over with a new broadband bill in 2007. Net neutrality advocates say the future of an open Internet is at risk after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Supreme Court last year removed requirements that large broadband providers share their networks with competing Internet service providers. But opponents argue new regulations aren't needed because there's little evidence of broadband providers blocking Web content. Broadband providers need the flexibility to offer services such as video on separate, clutter-free networks, they say, and they should be free to investigate new pricing models in which they charge Web sites new fees for faster customer access. During the August congressional recess, net neutrality advocates hosted rallies in 25 U.S. cities, including New York, Detroit, Denver and Baltimore, and delivered petitions to lawmakers. Net neutrality advocates also used blogs and video sharing Web sites like YouTube to argue their point. As of Friday morning, there were 182 YouTube videos with "net neutrality" as keywords; most of them support a net neutrality law. The SaveTheInternet.com coalition has collected 1.1 million signatures in support of net neutrality, and it counts 26 senators who now support a net neutrality law and 14 who oppose one. "We think the momentum has swung to our side over the break," said Jim McGann, a spokesman for the It's Our Net coalition, another net neutrality advocacy group. "From where I stand, the grassroots support is building." At the same time, many employees of broadband providers and members of the labor union Communications Workers of America have contacted lawmakers and voiced opposition to a net neutrality law, said Mike McCurry, co-chairman of the Hands off the Internet coalition, representing companies opposed to a net neutrality law. And groups advocating for more cable TV competition have told lawmakers to push ahead with the broadband bill, said McCurry, once a press secretary for former U.S. President Bill Clinton. "This [bill] will stimulate competition and drive down prices, and why wouldn't we want to do that?" McCurry said. Even though net neutrality advocates have organized a "commendable" grassroots campaign, the majority of U.S. residents are unfamiliar with the net neutrality issue, McCurry said. They understand, however, that increased competition for cable TV could benefit them. "If you walk into any shopping mall and hold up a net neutrality sign, I don't expect you're going to get a response," McCurry said. "People just don't understand it." It's difficult to predict if Congress will act on the broadband bill before early October, he added. "This is one bill that could move because there's been action [in Congress]," he said. "If anything goes, this is set to go." REFERENCES:Battle lines drawn over net neutrality, Jul. 11, 2006Net neutrality in a nutshell, Jul. 17, 2006
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal that could determine whether cable broadband providers can be forced to open their networks to other Internet providers.
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By Koprowski, Gene  The concept of "net neutrality" sounds quite reasonable in theory, but the policy proposals coming from federal legislators and bureaucrats may in reality be quite discriminatory.
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(InfoWorld) - Fifty-four organizations, including Amazon, Google, and TiVO, have called on the U.S. government to create a national broadband policy, saying there's no plan now in place focused on providing affordable access for all residents. The Open Internet Coalition, in a letter to Congress sent Thursday, said the U.S. government needs to adopt new measures to ensure universal affordable access to broadband, net neutrality and increased competition in the broadband market. The letter is the first step in a concerted effort coalition members will make to push broadband legislation in Congress, members said. The U.S. has fallen to 15th in per capita broadband adoption among the 30 nations that are members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, noted Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press, a media reform advocacy group. "Most alarmingly, we're not doing anything about it," he said. The U.S. lacks "any stated policy" to bring affordable broadband to more residents, added Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a digital rights advocacy group and member of the coalition. "The government doesn't have an overarching vision on how to address these problems," she added. In March 2004, U.S. President George Bush called for universal, affordable broadband for all U.S. residents by this year, but he did not propose major changes to make that happen. It's a major hurdle that providers of cable and DSL control 96 percent of U.S. broadband subscriptions, Scott said. "We've got to face the fact that [U.S. residents] pay more for less bandwidth than our global competitors," he said. Increased access to the Internet is vital to U.S. economic growth, said the letter to Congress. "Now is the time to give this goal the urgency it deserves," the letter said. "As broadband networks become more and more integral to our economic and social life, we are reaching a tipping point where legislation is no longer simply welcome -- it is imperative." Not everyone agrees with the coalition's goals, particularly its call for net neutrality or open access on broadband networks. Large broadband providers like Verizon and AT&T have opposed efforts to pass a net neutrality law that would prohibit providers from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. Such a law would limit providers' business plans and would discourage them from building fast new networks, the providers have said. Last month, some of the coalition's members called for open access requirements in upcoming spectrum auctions at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Scott Wallsten, a senior fellow at free-market think tank the Progress and Freedom Foundation, called the term "open access" a brilliant branding strategy. "How could anyone oppose proposals with names like net neutrality, Internet freedom, and open access?" Wallsten wrote in a newsletter. "But ... these proposals, if implemented, would create a regulatory hell of complicated rules and endless lobbying while undermining incentives to invest in critical wireless and wired broadband infrastructure." Other members of the Open Internet Coalition include eBay, online dating site Match.com, the Consumer Federation of America, CollegeHumor.com, and RealEstate.com.
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After weighing royalty requests of satellite and Web radio, Congress considers changing broadcast fees.
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Congress is poised to extend a ban on taxing Internet access, a move that would please Internet service providers but possibly cost states millions of dollars in lost revenue.
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RESTON, Va., Sept. 14  /PRNewswire/ -- Debate over whether to regulate Internet Service Providers has raged during consideration of so-called "net neutrality" (NN) legislation now pending in Congress.
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Timothy Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, advocated that the U.S. Congress protect net neutrality and questioned the value of DRM (digital rights management) Thursday.
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Citizens have until Friday to sway government regulators on net neutrality, the principle that ISPs should treat all packets of internet data equally.