Rep. Markey offers net-neutrality bill
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Legislation designed to prevent  broadband Internet providers from unreasonable interference  with subscribers' access to content was introduced on Wednesday  by a senior U.S. lawmaker.
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(InfoWorld) - Plans for valuable wireless spectrum being considered by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission may not go far enough to encourage a new broadband competitor, said groups calling for open-access rules for part of the spectrum. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, in an interview with USA Today published Tuesday, said he wants a "truly open broadband network" for the 700MHz spectrum scheduled to be auctioned by early next year. That would mean customers could attach any device to the network and download any application, Martin told the newspaper. Martin's proposal, reportedly to be applied to about a third of the 60MHz of spectrum to be auctioned, is similar to net neutrality rules that several consumer groups and Internet companies have championed for broadband networks. But groups calling for open access to the 700MHz spectrum want more than that. Groups like Public Knowledge, Consumers Union, and Free Press want the FCC to require winners of part of the spectrum to provide wholesale access to any wireless or broadband provider that wants to offer service on that spectrum. Rules that would allow customers to attach any device and download any application are a good first step, but what Martin seems to be proposing is "not open access," said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. "Our definition of open access includes wholesale. You're not going to get competition in the broadband space unless you have wholesale as well." The FCC is expected to set rules for use of the 700MHz spectrum within weeks, and there's heavy debate in Washington, D.C., over what those rules should look like. Many observers say the 700MHz spectrum, now used by U.S. television stations for over-the-air broadcasts, is the ideal spectrum for long-range wireless broadband services. With no other large auctions of spectrum in sight, Public Knowledge and other members of the Open Internet Coalition say open access rules offer the best chance for U.S. customers to ever see a third broadband service that competes with large cable and telecom providers. But some wireless providers, think tanks, and lawmakers have questioned open access rules. On Monday, 38 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to the FCC calling on the agency to reject open access rules. Such rules could hinder public safety communications on the spectrum, said the letter, signed by Representative Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, plus 36 other Republicans and one Democrat. The 700MHz spectrum includes 60MHz to be auctioned to commercial users and another 24MHz set aside for public safety agencies, such as police and fire departments. One proposal before the FCC, from startup Frontline Wireless, would marry 10MHz of commercial spectrum to be auctioned with 12MHz of public safety spectrum for a network that would have both public safety and commercial users. Open access rules would dictate how auction winners manage their networks and could reduce the value of the spectrum, the letter said. "We urge you to ensure that the rules the FCC crafts to govern the 700MHz auction do not impose burdensome and unnecessary open access regulations on licensees," the letter said. But members of the Open Internet Coalition said consumers want more freedom than current wireless networks provide. While the wireless industry likes to trumpet competition among carriers, mobile devices are tied to one network, and customers often have to pay huge early termination fees, said Ben Scott, Washington policy director for Free Press, a media reform group.
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When it comes to net neutrality, telecom and Internet companies may be asking for it.
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Rep. Mary Bono Mack says Congress shouldn't get in the way of Internet service providers that want to detect illegal sharing of copyrighted material.
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The run-up to November elections means that even if Congress takes another crack at Net neutrality and related broadband legislation when it returns from a month-long recess next week, some observers don't expect either bill to pass.
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Democrat says he'll take wait-and-see approach to pursuing new rules requiring wireless carriers to let consumers use whatever applications and devices they desire.
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(InfoWorld) - Debate over upcoming auctions of wireless spectrum in the U.S. has reached new heights -- the U.S. presidential campaign. This week, John Edwards, a leading Democratic candidate for president and former U.S. senator, called on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to ensure that small companies and wholesalers can bid on pieces of the 700MHz band when theÂ spectrum goes to auctionÂ by early next year. Winners of the spectrumÂ should not be able to "discriminate"Â against competing Web content and services, Edwards added in a letter sent Wednesday to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. Edwards'Â call for nondiscriminationÂ of Web content echoes requests by net neutrality advocates, who argue that the FCC or the U.S. Congress should prohibit broadband carriers from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. Edwards' proposal is similar to one advanced by Frontline Wireless, which has called for part of the spectrum to be made available to wholesalers. By taking the steps Edwards suggested, the FCC would ensure that all U.S. residents have access to inexpensive broadband, the presidential candidate wrote. The Internet "improves our democracy by making quiet voices loud, improves our economy by making small markets big, and improves opportunity by making unlikely dreams possible," Edwards wrote. "By setting bid and service rules that unleash the potential of smaller new entrants, you can transform the information opportunity for people across America -- rural and urban, wealthy and not." The spectrum will become available by February 2009. That's the date by which Congress voted last year to require U.S. TV stations to switch to digital broadcasts and abandon channels 51 to 69. Tech and telecom companies are eyeing the new spectrum for a variety of wireless broadband services. Each tower transmitting in the upper 700MHz spectrum band can cover up to four times the large geographic area as towers in higher bands, experts say. Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group that backs net neutrality rules, applauded Edwards' involvement in the 700MHz debate. Public Knowledge is part of a coalition also calling for "open access" for parts of the 700MHz band. Edwards' involvement can help raise the spectrum debate to another level, said Art Brodsky, spokesman for Public Knowledge. "That's a welcome development because this subject matter is important to our economy and to consumers," Brodsky said. Public Knowledge has suggested that the 700MHz auction represents the best chance for broadband competition to cable and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) providers in the near future. Major broadband providers haveÂ opposed calls for open accessÂ to the auctioned spectrum. A representative of Verizon Communications declined to comment on the Edwards letter, and an AT&T representative wasn't immediately available. But the Frontline proposal for open access and wholesale providers creates heavy regulations for the spectrum use, said Randolph J. May, president of conservative think tank The Free State Foundation. May called on the FCC to reject the Frontline proposal in an e-mail sent out Wednesday. "The managed competition vision rests on an assumption, rarely stated this bluntly, of course, that the regulators, through their supervision and control of unbundling decisions, can do better than the marketplace in promoting consumer welfare," May wrote.ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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InfoWorld - The U.S. Congress still needs to deal with network neutrality, and supporters in Congress are willing to block any legislation favored by broadband providers until the issue is resolved, a leading Democratic lawmaker said Wednesday.
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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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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) - Hundreds of groups and individual Internet users sounded off to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)Â on net neutrality in comments filed Monday, the deadline for responding to the agency's inquiry into the proposed regulation. Individual Internet users, trade groups, and advocacy organizations filed about 670 comments about net neutrality rules with the FCC Monday. Individuals and organizations have submitted nearly 29,000 comments on net neutrality since the FCC opened its inquiry in late March. Net neutrality advocates want the FCC or the U.S. Congress to prohibit large broadband providers like AT&TÂ and Comcast from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. Many of the comments Monday came from individual Internet users who asked the FCC to protect them against new fees that they fear broadband providers could charge Web content providers. "Keep the corporations off our rights," wrote Internet user Jack McFarley of Washington state in an e-mail that was part form letter. "Net neutrality is essential to free speech, equal opportunity, and economic innovation in America." Bonnie Bennett of California seemed to take a more individual approach in her e-mail to the FCC. "Free, unlimited access to the Internet is the modern-day version of how to educate the citizenry of a well-functioning democracy," she wrote. "Big companies and global corporations care a lot about profits and stockholders but not much about educating citizens." A technology director of a school in Mississippi said net neutrality rules would protect his students' ability to access the information they need. "The importance of the Internet is increasing each month," wrote David Scovic. "Many small innovative Web sites that are vital to our teaching would be affected by a no vote [on net neutrality rules]." Net neutrality advocates have argued that such rules are needed after decisions by the FCC and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 allowed broadband providers to stop sharing their networks with competing Internet service providers. The debate over net neutrality heated up after Ed Whitacre, former CEO at AT&T, complained in BusinessWeek in late 2005 about potential competition from Internet companies, saying he wasn't going to let them "use my pipes free." In March, the FCC launched an inquiry to examine net neutrality proposals, looking at whether broadband providers charge different prices for different speeds and how consumers are affected by the ways broadband providers manage their networks. Hands Off the Internet, an advocacy group representing AT&T, Alcatel-Lucent, the American Conservative Union and other organizations, said in its filing that net neutrality advocates haven't shown the need for new regulations. Broadband providers aren't blocking competing content, the group said. "There is no current or anticipated content discrimination or service degradation justifying new regulations by the commission," wrote Christopher Wolf, cochairman of Hands Off the Internet. "Moreover, regulation could well thwart Internet growth and make consumer access unfairly expensive." The Computer & Communications Industry Association, a trade group representing Microsoft, Google, and other tech vendors, said a net neutrality rule is needed because there's little competition among broadband providers. Broadband providers "insult the commission's expertise by summarily proclaiming the broadband access market competitive without any specific evidence of competition," the group said.
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A Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday proposed legislation to stop network providers from playing traffic cop on the Internet.
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A 165-page report issued yesterday by the US Federal Trade Commission examines the arguments surrounding the issue of whether to enforce "net neutrality" provisions - which would essentially mean equal access among consumers to all Internet content regardless of provider or service class - before coming to almost zero conclusions regarding a possible course of action.
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Bill that would speed rebates of $600 to most taxpayers heads to Senate with bipartisan appeal to senators not to jeopardize bill with changes.
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"Net neutrality" is a technical concept that has protected online freedom. It's essentially the First Amendment for the Internet - allowing Web users to go where they want and do what they please online.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is taking the middle ground in the net neutrality debate that pits large telecommunications operators against Internet giants. In a report on its examination ofÂ the net neutrality issue, the FTC on Wednesday didn't urge lawmakers to either pass or kill neutrality legislation but instead recommended that policymakers proceed with caution. Net neutrality refers to the concept of an open Internet where all content is treated the same way. Net neutrality regulation, backed by companies such as Google and by World Wide Web pioneer Timothy Berners-Lee, would require telecommunications operators to keep their networks neutral. Operators, however, typically argue that such regulations would stifle innovation. Qwest Communications International and Verizon CommunicationsÂ interpreted the FTC statement as a victory. "The Federal Trade Commission report confirms that there is no problem to fix," said Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president for public affairs, policy and communications, in a statement. "Proposals to impose new regulation actually threaten further advancements in broadband Internet connections." Qwest issued a similar comment. "Qwest is pleased with the findings of the report released today by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that government regulation of the Internet is unnecessary because there is no evidence of market failure or consumer harm," said Gary Lytle, Qwest senior vice president of federal relations, in a statement. An organization on the other side of the fence, the Open Internet Coalition, was pleased to see that the FTC found that consumers have said they strongly prefer the current open access model. But the group warned that Congress and the Federal Communications Commission must act to protect the open Internet. If policymakers wait until operators begin treating traffic differently, it will be very difficult to return to the current open framework, the group said. The SavetheInternet.com Coalition took a similar stance. "This is not the time for caution, but rather forward-looking and decisive action reinstating Net Neutrality once and for all," said S. Derek Turner, research director of Free Press, an organization that is part of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, in a statement. The FTC said the broadband industry is moving toward more competition. Thus, in the absence of market failure, policy makers should be particularly careful in enacting new regulations. However, some organizations, including the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, argue that competition is weak, with most consumers having at most two operators to choose from. Recent consolidation, such as SBC's acquisition of AT&T, has shrunk the competitive market. In May, 54 organizations, including Amazon.com and Tivo,Â called for a national broadband policyÂ that includes net neutrality laws. Google's public policy blog, launched in late May, already includes several entries supporting net neutrality.
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Democrat Byron Dorgan, a leading advocate for imposing antidiscrimination rules on Internet service providers, says law's passage remains "important for our country's interests."