This morning FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave a speech, detailing a proposal for keeping the Internet open for access to consumers, and protecting net neutrality. The proposal would prevent ISPs from discriminating against certain services, apps, or viewpoints on the web. It would also require those ISPs to be transparent about their network management practices.
Michael Copps, who is sitting in as Interim FCC chairman in Kevin Martin’s absence until the approval of White House nominee Julius Genachowski, suggested a fifth Internet non-discrimination principle be added to the regulatory agency’s Internet Policy Statement.
In March of 2006, I predicted it was only a matter of time before “a major media company” bought YouTube, and that the government would step in eventually to regulate Internet content. A few months later, Google was obviously that media company, and close to three years later, we are witnessing the potential handover of Web content to the FCC and/or other regulatory agencies.
The Wall Street Journal has created a ton of Internet buzz, but not in a good way. In what now appears to have been a slam against Google, Barack Obama, and Network Neutrality, there are misrepresentations, misquotes, and pure fabrications seemingly tailored toward a desired end: create the appearance Net Neutrality is losing its most important supporters.
It's official, as far as the FCC is concerned, that Comcast's throttling of peer-to-peer traffic was illegal and in violation of the FCC's network neutrality principles. The highly expected ruling came down today, with Chairman Kevin Martin crossing the political aisle to join commissioners Copps and Adelstein, serving Comcast with a cease-and-desist order.
It's interesting, but not surprising, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is the target of a scathing editorial by the Wall Street Journal. He's an easy and popular target these days from both sides of just about any issue involving the FCC. He stinks. Everybody knows it.
An interesting Net Neutrality micro-debate has surfaced surrounding Akamai and whether Akamai's services are a violation of Net Neutrality principles. This argument, produced by an influential Internet law professor, was used to illustrate that the Internet has never been neutral.
Remember how after AT&T made Net Neutrality concessions to get their merger with BellSouth approved, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was so quick to remind everybody that the FCC had no teeth to enforce that? Well, the lack of teeth is coming back to bite us.Let's review. At the end of 2006, Martin had this to say about making sure AT&T followed it's own commitment to maintaining a neutral network:
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin says the regulatory agency will investigate allegations that Comcast interferes with p2p Internet traffic. He also said Verizon Wireless would be under the microscope after complaints the company blocked text messages from an abortion rights group.
Controversy is brewing over a Canadian ISP inserting customer messages at the top Google's homepage, brought to you by Yahoo.
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