OIC letter to Obama on Net Neutrality
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Canada’s Tim Wu coined the phrase Net Neutrality, now the accepted universal short form representing the concept of a free and open internet.
It’ll also be priority item for Barack Obama when he officially takes the reins of government from George W. Bush in January.
And to help him, the Open Internet Coalition sent letters to Valerie Jarrett and John Podesta, the co-chairs of Obama’s presidential Transition Project suggesting four key areas where it says the new administration can have the greatest impact in fulfilling his policies.
“Net neutrality, of course, is the idea that broadband operators shouldn’t be allowed to block or degrade Internet content and services — or charge content providers an extra fee for speedier delivery or more favorable placement,” CNet News quotes Obama as saying.
And in the summer of 2006, he stated in a podcast »»»
The internet today is an open platform where the demand for websites and services dictates success. You’ve got barriers to entry that are low and equal for all comers. And it’s because the internet is a neutral platform that I can put on this podcast and transmit it over the internet without having to go through some corporate media middleman. I can say what I want without censorship. I don’t have to pay a special charge. But the big telephone and cable companies want to change the internet as we know it. They say they want to create high-speed lanes on the internet and strike exclusive contractual arrangements with internet content-providers for access to those high-speed lanes. Those of us who can’t pony up the cash for these high-speed connections will be relegated to the slow lanes.
Allowing the Bells and cable companies to act as gatekeepers with control over internet access would make the internet like cable. A producer-driven market with barriers to entry for website creators and preferential treatment for specific sites based not on merit, the number of hits, but on relationships with the corporate gatekeeper. If there were four or more competitive providers of broadband service to every home, then cable and telephone companies would not be able to create a bidding war for access to the high-speed lanes. But here’s the problem. More than 99 percent of households get their broadband services from either cable or a telephone company.
So here’s my view. We can’t have a situation in which the corporate duopoly dictates the future of the internet and that’s why I’m supporting what is called net neutrality. In the House, the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Judiciary Committee reached different conclusions on network neutrality. Judiciary Committee members voted to protect net neutrality and commerce voted with the Bells and cable. That debate is going to hit the House floor this Friday. In the Senate, Senators Snowe and Dorgan are leading the fight for net neutrality and I’ve joined in that effort. Senator Inouye, the ranking Democrat of the Commerce Committee, has joined us in this effort as well and he’s working with Senator Stevens to put strong network neutrality into any Senate bill that comes before us. There is widespread support among consumer groups, leading academics and the most innovative internet companies, including Google and Yahoo, in favor of net neutrality. And part of the reason for that is companies like Google and Yahoo might never have gotten started had they not been in a position to easily access the internet and do so on the same terms as the big corporate companies that were interested in making money on the internet.
Obama is probably besieged by highly paid lobbyists, said p2pnet recently, going on:
“But maybe not.
“Presidential transition team co-chair John Podesta has announced the, “strictest, and most far reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history”.
And Valerie Jarrett is known as the other side of Barack Obama’s brain, according to the Huffington Post.
States the Open Internet Coalition letter »»»
We have followed the presidential campaign with great interest, particularly with regards to President-elect Obama’s proposals on technology issues, specifically in the area of an open Internet. In his technology paper “Connecting and Empowering All Americans Through Technology and Innovation”, he recognized the importance an open Internet plays in both our economy and our democracy. In this time of economic crisis, it is even more critical that we pursue policies that will encourage investment and growth by spurring continued innovation on the Internet.
President-elect Obama proposed protecting the openness of the Internet by supporting the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition and innovation on the Internet. He recognized several other important openness principles, including the rights of consumers to access content, to use applications, and to attach personal devices to the Internet. He also opposed toll charges which would create a two tier Internet with fast and slow lanes.
In addition to ensuring openness, President-elect Obama stated that only through a build-out of true broadband to every community in America through USF reform and wireless deployment, can America retake its world leadership in broadband penetration and Internet access. The Open Internet Coalition supports these important goals, and stands ready to work to help implement them through smart and effective government policies, throughout the new administration. We hope that as you conduct the transition process, you will be focusing on four key areas where strong and committed leadership will be needed to help ensure that President-elect Obama’s proposals on behalf of the open Internet will be enacted.
1) Appoint a new Chairman and a new Commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission who support strong enforcement and promotion of open Internet principles.
President-elect Obama will have the opportunity to reshape the FCC as a proactive agency dedicated to enforcing principles of openness and non-discrimination as has been done in the recent Comcast matter. We hope that the nominees to the Commission will use the confirmation process before the Senate to express their support for this decision and will embrace continued protection of the open Internet across all broadband platforms through both enforcement and rulemaking.
2) Appoint leaders at the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice who understand the importance of promoting an open Internet through vigorous use of procompetition and consumer protection laws.
Too often, policymakers have neglected antitrust law as a tool for promoting the open Internet. New appointees to the FTC and the DoJ, particularly the FTC Chairman and Director of Competition and the DoJ Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, should have an understanding of the importance of this issue in their work, using antitrust tools to protect the open Internet and promote a competitive consumer marketplace for broadband services. Additionally, the FTC Director of Consumer Protection should also put protecting consumers from unfair and deceptive trade practices by broadband Internet providers on their agenda.
3) Require the Chief Technology Officer and the United States Trade Representative to promote open Internet policies at home and abroad.
The open Internet is part of a larger group of open technology issues that can be very beneficial to our economy in this period of global economic slowdown. Openness can drive technological growth and innovation, helping spur investment and job creation in this crucial time. It is important that economic policymakers, for both our domestic and international economy, understand the role that government policies can play to foster this progress. We ask that the new CTO and USTR have key staff with the responsibility for promoting pro-openness policies.
4) Support legislation in Congress that protects the Open Internet by prohibiting unreasonable discrimination by network operators.
Appointments to key agencies are not enough. It is critical that Congress state that unreasonable discrimination by Internet network operators is illegal. The sooner that Congress clearly speaks to this issue, the sooner that entrepreneurs and innovators will get the green light that their investments and inventions will continue to be able to be used by all broadband Internet consumers, however they access the Internet. It is critical that President–elect Obama include this as part of his legislative agenda to show the kind of leadership that will be needed to ensure Congress takes action. We are excited about the progress that has been made on these issues, and look forward to working with this new Administration to help restore the US leadership in a core area of economic growth, trade, and development.
Coalition members include: Adaptive Marketing LLC; Aegon Direct Marketing Services; Amazon; American Association of Law Libraries; American Library Association; Anglebeds.com; Ask.com; Association of Research Libraries; Bloglines; Chemistry.com; Circumedia LLC; Citysearch; CollegeHumor; Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA); Cornerstone Brands, Inc.; Data Foundry; Domania; Downstream; Dreamsleep.com; Dresses.com; Earthlink; eBay; EDUCAUSE; Electronic Retailing Association; Entertainment Publications; Evite; Free Press; GetSmart; Gifts.com; GoGawGaw; Google; Hawthorne Direct; HomeLoanCenter.com; IAC; Iceland Health Inc.; iNest; InPulse Response; Internet2; Interval International; iWon; Match.com; Media Access Project; Mercury Media; Merrick Group; National Public Radio (NPR); NationalBlinds.com; NetCoalition; New America Foundation; North Texas Technology Council; PayPal; Public Knowledge; Shoebuy.com; Shopping.com; Skype; SlingMedia; StubHub; TechNet; Ticketmaster; TiVo; USPIRG; Vanguard; and, YouTube.
Did you enjoy this story, or find it interesting/useful? Help keep the posts coming by donating. No amount is too small. Cheers! And thanks.
Net Neutrality – Who needs Bell Canada? No one., December 2, 2008
CNet News – Obama pledges Net neutrality laws if elected president, October 29, 2008
p2pnet – Obama: curbing the influence of lobbyists, November 13, 2008
Huffington Post – Valerie Jarrett: The Other Side Of Obama’s Brain (WATCH), August 12, 2008
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details.
December 5th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Where is the Electronic Frontier Foundation in that list?
I honestly hope he, personally rips up those copyright laws and promotes Open Competition
I suspect if Artists made thier own bittorrent trackers they would make more money than going on tour
Just look at that online european Gallery they were overloaded and estimated 4week ETA to come back online