Salon.com > Network Neutrality

When liberal groups promote corporate mergers

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:05:00 +0000

Politico reported Friday morning that a number of liberal advocacy groups lending support to AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile have "no obvious interest in telecom deals -- except that they’ve received big piles of AT&T’s cash."

"In recent weeks, the NAACP, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation [GLAAD] and the National Education Association have each issued public statements in support of the deal," Politico's Eliza Krigman wrote, noting that all these groups had received considerable sums from AT&T (the NAACP, for example received $1 million from the telecom giant in 2009).

A few questions certainly need addressing here: First, why would the opinions of advocacy groups matter in a large corporate merger? And second, do these advocacy groups have any credibility when the merger involves a company that has provided them with financial support?

In terms of the first question, Politico suggests that AT&T wants the groups involved because the merger approval process is inherently political:

Harry Potter and the network of neutrality

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 01:01:00 +0000

Who knew Harry Potter's magic powers were for real? OK, excuse my Muggle-like ignorance, but I didn't believe it until I attended a session at the recent National Conference on Media Reform in Boston, organized by the nonprofit organization Free Press. This particular panel was headlined "Pop Culture Warriors: How Online Fan Communities Are Organizing to Save the World."

The Harry Potter Alliance is a group of devotees worldwide who have hocus-pocused their shared love of the Potter books and movies into genuine social activism. As their website declares, they use the power of the Internet to "work with partner NGOs [nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations] in alerting the world to the dangers of global warming, poverty, and genocide. Work with our partners for equal rights regardless of race, gender, and sexuality. Encourage our members to hone the magic of their creativity in endeavoring to make the world a better place."

House votes to repeal “net neutrality” rules

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:39:00 +0000

House Republicans adamant that the government keep its hands off the Internet passed a bill Friday to repeal federal rules barring Internet service providers from blocking or interfering with traffic on their networks.

Republicans, in voting to repeal rules on "network neutrality" set down by the Federal Communications Commission, said the FCC lacked the authority to promulgate the rules. They disputed the need to intervene in an already open Internet and warned that the rules would stifle investment in broadband systems.

"The FCC power grab would allow it to regulate any interstate communication service on barely more than a whim and without any additional input from Congress," said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., sponsor of the legislation. The Internet, he added, "is open and innovative thanks to the government's hands-off approach."

But in what has become a largely partisan battle, the Democrat-controlled Senate is not expected to go along with the House. Sen. John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said he was "disappointed that House leadership wants to undo the integrity of the FCC's process and unravel their good work."

House panel votes to repeal new FCC Internet rules

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:46:00 +0000

A Republican-controlled Congressional panel has voted to repeal new Federal Communications Commission rules that prohibit phone and cable companies from interfering with Internet traffic on their broadband networks.

The House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology voted 15-to-8 along party lines Wednesday to overturn the FCC's new "network neutrality" regulations. The FCC's three Democrats voted to adopt the regulations in December over the opposition of the agency's two Republicans.

The rules are intended to prevent phone and cable companies from using their control over broadband connections to dictate where their subscribers go and what they do online. They prohibit broadband providers from favoring or discriminating against Internet content and services, including online calling services like Skype and Web video services like Netflix that could compete with their core phone and cable operations.

Wednesday's vote marks the second attempt by House Republicans to reverse the FCC's actions. Last month, they attached an amendment to a sweeping spending bill that would prohibit the agency from using government money to implement its new regulations.

Verizon challenges FCC’s net neutrality rules

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Verizon Communications Inc. on Thursday filed a legal challenge to new federal regulations that prohibit broadband providers from interfering with Internet traffic flowing over their networks.

In a filing in federal appeals court in the District of Columbia, Verizon argues that the Federal Communications Commission overstepped its authority in adopting the new "network neutrality" rules last month.

The rules prohibit phone and cable companies from favoring or discriminating against Internet content and services -- including online calling services such as Skype and Internet video services such as Netflix, which in many cases compete with services sold by companies like Verizon.

The FCC's three Democrats voted to adopt the rules over the opposition of the agency's two Republicans just before Christmas. Republicans in Congress, who now control the House, have vowed to try to block the rules from taking effect. They argue that they amount to unnecessary regulation that will discourage phone and cable companies from investing in their networks.

Several key House Republicans, including House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton of Michigan, welcomed Verizon's actions Thursday as "a check on an FCC that is acting beyond the authority granted to it by Congress." The court challenge had been widely expected.

The FCC’s weak new “open Internet” rules

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:45:00 +0000

The neutering of the Internet is now the unofficial policy of the Federal Communications Commission. Contrary to the happy talk from FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski at a rule-making announcement today in Washington, the move is well underway to turn the Internet into a regulated playground for corporate giants.

Tuesday's FCC vote on rules purportedly designed to ensure open and free networks was a 3-2 partisan charade, with Genachowski and the other two Democratic commissioners in favor and the two Republicans against. It did nothing of the sort. The short-term result will be confusion and jockeying for position. Genachowski's claim that the rules bring "a level of certainty" to the landscape was laughable unless he was talking about lobbyists and lawyers; their futures are certainly looking prosperous. The longer-range result will be to solidify the power of the incumbent powerhouses -- especially telecommunications providers and the entertainment industry -- to take much more control over what we do online.

FCC poised to adopt network neutrality rules

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:28:00 +0000

New rules aimed at prohibiting broadband providers from becoming gatekeepers of Internet traffic now have just enough votes to pass the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday.

The rules would prohibit phone and cable companies from abusing their control over broadband connections to discriminate against rival content or services, such as Internet phone calls or online video, or play favorites with Web traffic.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski now has the three votes needed for approval, despite firm opposition from the two Republicans on the five-member commission. Genachowski's two fellow Democrats said Monday they will vote for the rules, even though they consider them too weak.

The outcome caps a nearly-16-month push by Genachowski to pass "network neutrality" rules and marks a key turning point in a policy dispute that began more than five years ago.

"The open Internet is a crucial American marketplace, and I believe that it is appropriate for the FCC to safeguard it by adopting an order that will establish clear rules to protect consumers' access," Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a Democrat, said in a statement.

FCC is poised to adopt network neutrality rules

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:28:00 +0000

The head of the Federal Communications Commission has enough support to pass controversial new rules that will prohibit phone and cable companies from discriminating against or favoring Internet traffic flowing over their broadband networks.

More than a year after FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski pledged to put in place so-called "network neutrality" regulations, the agency is poised to adopt those rules at a meeting on Tuesday.

Although the two Republicans who sit on the five-member commission are firmly opposed to the plan, Genachowski's two Democratic colleagues have both said they will vote to let the proposal pass. Those two Democrats, Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps, have both said they still have reservations about the rules, however.

“The Master Switch”: Is the Internet due for a takeover?

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 00:01:00 +0000

Tim Wu's "The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires" has been out for a few weeks now and has already become one of those books that prognosticators and opinionators feel obliged to respond to. It's also a substantial and well-written account of the five major communications industries that have shaped the world as we know it: telephony, radio, movies, television and the Internet. Wu believes that all of these industries have moved through cycles of diversity and consolidation, and that if we think the Internet is immune to a takeover by some massive monopoly promising a more perfect (and more profitable) experience for users (and itself), then we should look to history, and think again.

For Internet pundits (whether amateur or professional), Wu's book is required reading, but the average citizen may find it even more revelatory and rewarding. Maybe you know a little bit about the rise and fall of the studio system in Hollywood, or you get misty-eyed over the crazy but creative early years of radio, before major broadcasting networks took over. Anyone past the age of 30 probably has at least a hazy memory of Ma Bell being smashed into Baby Bells by the Department of Justice in 1984, and may even be aware that some people still regard this as a crying shame. And, of course, you all know that the Internet is radically, uncontrollably decentralized by virtue of its very structure: It was designed to survive a nuclear war, right?

Comcast to bill content providers for access to subscribers

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:05:00 +0000

Level 3 Communications, an Internet backbone company that will support Netflix's movie streaming service next year, is complaining that cable giant Comcast wants money for the right to send data to its subscribers.

The company says the fee violates the principles of an "open Internet" and goes against the Federal Communications Commission's proposed rules preventing broadband Internet providers from favoring certain types of traffic.

However, the spat may be more reflective of the complicated commercial relationships of the Internet, where it's not always clear who should be paying whom.

The charges come at a sensitive time for Comcast Corp., which is trying to get regulatory clearance to buy NBC Universal.

Net neutrality another election loser

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:45:00 +0000

There's no way to sugar-coat this: Since Tuesday, network neutrality isn't quite dead, but may well be in a coma. That's the only rational way to look at the results of the 2010 elections, which saw some of net neutrality's major backers go down to defeat.

Network neutrality is the idea that your broadband Internet provider -- almost always a local cable or phone company -- isn't making decisions about what you can use on the Internet. That is, your ISP should not decide which bits of data get to your computer in what order or at what speed, much less whether they will ever get there at all.

Among the most damaging congressional losses will take place with the departure of Rep. Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat, who lost his reelection bid. No one in that chamber has a better grasp of technology issues, not even Silicon Valley's representatives. Boucher wasn't just a strong supporter of net neutrality on tech policy; as chair of the House Communications, Technology and Internet subcommittee he used his authority over tech policy in generally progressive ways. Democrats weren't fully in support of net neutrality to begin with, but Republicans, ever-loyal to the big-money corporate interests, have decided that the duopoly is all the competition we need.

Eli Pariser on the future of the Internet

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:01:00 +0000

This is the fourth installment of The Influencers, a six-part interview series that Lynn Parramore, the editor of New Deal 2.0 and a media fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, is conducting for Salon. She recently talked to Internet activist and guru Eli Pariser, board president of MoveOn.org, who is currently writing a book exploring an invisible feedback loop he calls "the filter bubble." They discussed the dangers of this trend, along with net neutrality and the future of the Web.

What is the filter bubble and why is it significant?

Increasingly on the Internet, websites are personalizing themselves to suit our interests. We all see this happening at Amazon, where if you order a book, Amazon will send you the next book. We see it happening in Netflix, but it's also happening in a bunch of places where it's much less visible.