Thread: EXCLUSIVE: FCC Dems Narrowing Net Neutrality Gaps

EXCLUSIVE: FCC Dems Narrowing Net Neutrality Gaps

By David Hatch
December 19, 2010 | 6:04 PM
249 Comments

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is making progress in narrowing gaps with his two Democratic colleagues over his controversial plan to adopt sweeping new rules for the Internet, National Journal has learned. But with the talks very fluid, and differences remaining, there's still a possibility that the regulatory initiative could be pulled at the last minute from the agenda of Tuesday's commission meeting.

Genachowski needs the support of Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn to approve his "network neutrality" proposal, which would create enforceable rules designed to protect the openness that is the Internet's hallmark. While both Copps and Clyburn are net neutrality advocates, they've complained that the chairman's framework cuts too many breaks for major telecommunications and cable providers of broadband. The two Republicans on the five-member commission remain staunchly opposed, arguing that the proposed rules amount to unnecessary government regulation of the Internet.

An FCC source familiar with the negotiations said progress is being made in three key areas: addressing concerns about wireless carriers, limiting Internet toll lanes and adding protections for a new online pricing model.

Responding to the complaint that the proposal, announced Dec. 1, would not bar discriminatory blocking of rival applications and services by wireless carriers. Genachowski appears willing to have the FCC monitor the situation over the next two years. Critics have noted that the proposed rules are more stringent for wireline carriers, even though Americans are rapidly gravitating to mobile connectivity.

Wireless carriers have endorsed (albeit grudgingly) the net neutrality plan, offering Genachowski critical industry support that can help dampen congressional criticism. They insist they need maximum flexibility in operating their networks due to capacity constraints, and won't block competitors.

If clear violations emerge, the agency would promulgate new protections down the road, the source said. Genachowski's side has argued during closed-door negotiations that since the wireless market is still developing, tougher rules shouldn't be applied now. Despite the progress, the source said the fate of the net neutrality proposal hinges on details to be ironed out over wireless service.

The FCC chairman also appears willing to limit the creation of toll lanes on the Internet for companies willing to pay for faster transmissions -- a structure known as "paid prioritization." As a result, the agency might specify scenarios under which such lanes would be barred because of concern about harm to consumers or competition. The chairman originally green lighted these arrangements in his announcement, raising worries that entities unable or unwilling to pay for priority treatment would be relegated to slow lanes.

Regarding a new form of Internet pricing that would charge customers based on the bandwidth they use, the chairman also may be ready to give some ground. Usage or metered pricing is allowable now, but most broadband providers have been hesitant to offer it because heavy Internet users would be slapped with higher fees -- a result that could draw brickbats from Washington. Genachowski, who endorsed the model as part of his net neutrality announcement, now appears receptive to placing some limits on it. For example, the FCC would prohibit a broadband provider from imposing exorbitant metered pricing fees on Netflix customers if the goal is to prompt them to switch to its less costly video service.

http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.co ... rowing.php

Barack Obama And The United Nations Will Be Watching The Internet For You

2010 December 20
by Joseph Klein

All Internet users beware! An Internet free of the heavy hand of government regulation may become a thing of the past. First, we have the Obama administration seeking to place controls on the Internet.

Second, the United Nations establishment is trying to establish mechanisms for global governance of the Internet.

The Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, an Obama appointee, is seeking to carry out Barack Obama’s campaign promise to regulate the Internet, starting with ‘net-neutrality’ which the FCC is expected to take up as early as tomorrow.

It was Genachowski who appointed the FCC’s Chief Diversity Officer Mark Lloyd. Czar Lloyd, among other things, said that

blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies

Net neutrality is the attempt, in the name of open and egalitarian access, to regulate the terms under which Internet service providers can provide and price their services. Diversity is a primary policy objective. It will inevitably lead to regulation of Internet content. The fact that a recent court decision has cast serious doubt on whether the FCC has the authority to pursue this policy has not deterred Genachowski from moving forward.

In the words of Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell:

the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will mark the winter solstice by taking an unprecedented step to expand government’s reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling… On this winter solstice, we will witness jaw-dropping interventionist chutzpah as the FCC bypasses branches of our government in the dogged pursuit of needless and harmful regulation. The darkest day of the year may end up marking the beginning of a long winter’s night for Internet freedom

The United Nations is also aiming to run the Internet for you. With the backing of governments around the world who don’t mind free-riding on American investment and know-how in the Internet while seeking as many ways as possible to usurp control over its governance, the UN establishment has been trying for years to move control of the Internet’s day-to-day management to some sort of global governance forum.

In the latest such incidence, at a meeting in New York last week, representatives from Brazil called for an international body that would attempt to create global standards for policing the Internet. India, South Africa, China and Saudi Arabia also backed the idea. The justification this time was to deal with challenges such as WikiLeaks. But it’s all about replacing the openness of the Internet, operating in a free market environment, with intrusive international regulation.

There is already a United Nations Internet body in existence known as the Internet Governance Forum, whose five year mandate is about to expire. But the advocates of global governance are not satisfied with simply extending its term, because the Internet Governance Forum only advises on Internet policy issues and has no decision-making authority of its own.

Supporters of global governance of the Internet also want to go way beyond cooperating on purely technical issues such as the coordination of Internet addresses across the world to enable users to reach each other on the Internet – a function performed currently by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This not-for-profit public benefit corporation doesn’t have any say concerning content on the Internet. Nor does it deal with public policies regarding access to the Internet. Internet content and access are left to the marketplace today.

Yet even ICANN, with participants from all over the world, has become a political football in global governance circles. The global governance advocates believe that the United States has too much control. In the words of one such advocate who wants ICANN to be more internationalized,

ICANN should strive to be “WE CANâ€

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