Net regulation 'still possible'
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The blurring of boundaries between TV and the internet raises questions of regulation, says watchdog Ofcom.
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com September 21, 2004, 3:39 PM PT. There&#39;s no doubt the Internet will continue to make its mark in the world of business and technology.
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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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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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AT&T Inc. is still evaluating whether to examine traffic on its Internet lines to stop illegal sharing of copyright material, its chief executive said Wednesday.
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Action doesn't cancel existing taxes on Internet sales, however.
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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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Broadband access charges are still too high and need to be slashed further to bring them in line with other nations, the UK&#39;s media and telecoms regulator says.
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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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Cinergy has a venture with Current Communications to market BPL systems to municipally-owned and rural cooperative utilities. Their plan so far has not been slowed by regulatory uncertainty
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Company has defended its practice of sometimes slowing P-to-P networks such as BitTorrent.
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Internet service providers have to walk a fine line between fairness and profitability. Users want maximum service, and are entitled to honest contracts. Maybe there's a way to help everyone at once.
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Proposed law could prevent the government from offering broadband access.
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Yet another communications-infrastructure player reports promising results.
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The telecoms watchdog Ofcom is considering how to regulate firms that let you make calls via the net.
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Despite legal barriers, business is still good.
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update British regulatory agency Ofcom has begun to map out the future for commercial Net phone services. And while some issues are as yet unresolved, the organization issued a key ruling Monday that was popular among carriers.