There is growing momentum for the FCC to deal with issues of what is loosely wrapped up in the term 'Net Neutrality'. The outcome of this will affect the future of access and openness on the Internet, and the continued ability of sites such as DailyKos, or any blog or online information source, to have continued free access by any and everyone who wants to read and inform themselves.
That is of course only one of the many issues involved here.
The Internet, as I have pointed out many times previously, will be seen ultimately as having had an even greater role in shaping history and society than the invention of the printing press and the distribution of the Bible in common languages to the people, thus freeing it from the hands of the elite priest classes. There is perhaps no greater turning point in history in my mind, up until the spread of the Internet in the past decade.
There are terribly important issues on bandwidth management and access. The major service providers are doing everything within their power to get the sort of control over their last mile of the Internet to their customers, in order to control and direct traffic in a way that will profit their video, entertainment, and service offerings. Never doubt that that is part of their game plan, and why they started totally freaking last week when the current FCC chair gave a speech backing Net Neutrality very strongly. I added the bolding to one salient sentence.
FCC Chairman's Net Neutrality Speech Text
Notwithstanding its unparalleled record of success, today the free and open Internet faces emerging and substantial challenges. We've already seen some clear examples of deviations from the Internet's historic openness. We have witnessed certain broadband providers unilaterally block access to VoIP applications (phone calls delivered over data networks) and implement technical measures that degrade the performance of peer-to-peer software distributing lawful content. We have even seen at least one service provider deny users access to political content. And as many members of the Internet community and key Congressional leaders have noted, there are compelling reasons to be concerned about the future of openness.
One reason has to do with limited competition among service providers. As American consumers make the shift from dial-up to broadband, their choice of providers has narrowed substantially. I don't intend that remark as a policy conclusion or criticism -- it is simply a fact about today's marketplace that we must acknowledge and incorporate into our policymaking.
Freepress.net has published a short document outlining and refuting ten of the major myths about Net Neutrality, and it is worth reading.
Free Press Debunks Top 10 Net Neutrality Myths
New report separates fact from fiction in the debate over Net Neutrality at the FCC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 30, 2009
Contact: Moira Vahey, Free Press, (708) 476-5454
WASHINGTON -- Today, Free Press released Digital Déjà Vu: Old Myths about Net Neutrality, a new issue brief that dispels the arguments from big phone and cable companies and opponents of Net Neutrality. The report exposes false claims about investment, regulation, competition and other prevalent issues.
"The debate over what policies are needed to preserve the open Internet must be bound by facts and reality, not by misdirection and discredited falsehoods," said S. Derek Turner, Free Press research director and author of the report. "Industry and their phony astroturf groups are deliberately misleading policymakers and the public about Net Neutrality. This is an important public policy issue, and consumers need to know the truth."
Read Digital Deja Vu at http://freepress.net/...
The debate over Net Neutrality was reignited recently when Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced plans to create stronger open Internet rules. Net Neutrality has been supported by President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, congressional leaders, public interest groups, private industry and millions of everday people. But opponents of Net Neutrality have been quickly working to undermine through misinformation these efforts to preserve an open Internet.
Some of the myths debunked in the report include:
Myth: "Net Neutrality is a solution in search of a problem."
Reality: ISPs claim that Net Neutrality is a "solution in search of a problem," but they also say they need to violate the principles of the open Internet to reap profits from new discriminatory business models. Now the technology that enables discrimination is finally available to ISPs.
Myth: "This will be the first time the government has regulated the Internet."
Reality: The open Internet as we know it would not exist if not for regulation. More than 40 years ago, the FCC helped to create an environment where the Internet could flourish by preventing phone companies from interfering with traffic flowing over their networks.
Myth: "Net Neutrality rules will discourage investment."
Reality: Without Net Neutrality, ISPs will actually have an incentive to delay investment and profit by selling access at a premium to artificially scarce bandwidth.
Myth: "Net Neutrality would prevent ISPs from effectively managing Web congestion from video streaming and other bandwidth-intensive activities that are clogging up the Web."
Reality: Nothing in the proposed FCC open Internet rules, or in congressional legislation, would prevent an ISP from using reasonable network management techniques to deal with congestion.
"Net Neutrality rules will preserve the free flow of information, spur investment and promote choice," Turner said. "We cannot allow the future of the open Internet to be sabotaged by these long-discredited myths."
Another resource that I try to encourage people to consult and participate in is the Network Neutrality Squad. If you want any further evidence that it's forum is a place for serious discussion of the issues, I will just note that Vint Cerf is a regular participant. At times the discussions become highly technical, at times acerbic, but always informative.
NNSquad Network Neutrality Squad