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Net neutrality haunts senate (and the working dead)
- IT TOPICS:Government & Regulation, Internet, Networking, Security
Ich bin ein IT Blogwatch: in which the network neutrality issue rides again. Not to mention the working dead...
Nate Anderson debunks the conventional wisdom with a colorful metaphor:
Just in time for All Hallows Eve, [net neutrality] has risen from the dead like a zombie and started shambling round the halls of Congress as two senators asked the Senate Commerce Committee to look into the issue ... in the wake of some widely-publicized PR gaffes by some of the country's largest telecommunications firms ... Critics argued only a few weeks back that ... there just weren't any actual problems to get worked into a lather about ... [but] then came the bad behavior, the litany of minor cases, dropping like early Christmas gifts into the laps of net neutrality advocates across the country. [more]
Charles W. Bailey, Jr. is quite a mouthful:
Recent actions by AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon have rekindled the net neutrality debate, and Senators Byron Dorgan and Olympia Snowe are asking for a Senate Commerce Committee investigation into net neutrality issues. [more]
Timothy Karr is eloquent in his agreement:
A few of Washington's finest ... recently hunkered down behind their laptops to convince the world that Net Neutrality was dead and gone ... That Net Neutrality has remained a centerpiece of public activism outside the Beltway was lost on these naysayers. As any 12-step veteran can tell you, denial can be interpreted as a final cry for help. [more]
David Sohn thinks the recent cases, "highlight the need for more transparency":
This is something on which all sides of the neutrality debate ought to be able to agree. It’s one thing to argue about whether carriers should be subject to some type of government rules limiting discrimination. But it’s quite another to argue that it’s just fine for carriers to discriminate in secret, with no public disclosure of their policies. After all, opponents of regulation generally say that competition in the marketplace, together with the backstop of antitrust law, will provide a sufficient check against harmful types of discrimination. [more]
An anonymous MoveOn.org blogger blogs:
Today, Net Neutrality became a presidential campaign issue when Senator Barack Obama answered an enthusiastic "Yes!" along with a thorough response to a question posed during an MTV event by a member of MoveOn.org ... "I am a strong supporter of net neutrality ... What you've been seeing is some lobbying that says [ISPs] should be able to be gatekeepers and able to charge different rates to different websites...so you could get much better quality from the Fox News site and you'd be getting rotten service from the mom and pop sites. And that I think destroys one of the best things about the Internet -- which is that there is this incredible equality there...as president I'm going to make sure that is the principle that my FCC commissioners are applying as we move forward." [more]
But this Lonewacko scoffs:
The question that was asked is here; it just asks whether the candidate would make reinstating net neutrality a priority in their first year in office ... The problem is that Obama already said he supported net neutrality, way back in June 8, 2006 ... If you're getting a vague Soviet vibe, hopefully you aren't alone. An advocacy group was able to propel a weak question that the candidate had already answered into top position, and the candidate answered it as he had done before ... We need real debates, [this] is not the way to get them. [more]
Anne Broache adds balance:
He's also not the only presidential candidate to voice support for the rules. On the Democratic side, so have Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), former Democratic senator John Edwards, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), and Democratic New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Among the Republicans, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has also reportedly given a thumbs up to the idea. [more]
Andrew Parker takes the First Amendment angle:
It’s interesting that the debate was reignited when it was framed in the context of first amendment issues. Prior to these events, the major net neutrality argument was a financial one: carriers could get greedy and charge both web services and end-consumers money for “fast lane” access. That financial argument didn’t resonate with people because there wasn’t any strong examples of misbehavior by the carriers to support the argument. It was generally hypothetical. But, now there are first amendment violations that exemplify the necessity and urgency of net neutrality legislation. [more]
Don Crowley summarizes, Nelson-style:
Haha! Net neutrality is back thanks to the stupidity of the big guys! [more]
And finally...
Buffer overflow:
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You too can pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.
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