Anti-Google/Verizon rally today
p2pnet view Freedom | P2P:- The storm of outrage generated by Google and Verizon and their scheme to charge a fee for who’ll have free access to the net, and who won’t, is growing in strength, fueled by the cynical about-face by Google, a former outspoken supporter of net neutrality.
A rally has been slated for 12 noon today outside Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. It’s sponsored by Free Press, ColorofChange.org, Credo Action, MoveOn.org and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
If you’re in the area, or can get to it, be there.
Because if the Google/Verizon deal goes through, it’ll lead to “toll booths on the information superhighway”, says Free Press, continuing
“Google and Verizon can try all they want to disguise this deal as a reasonable path forward, but the simple fact is this framework, if embraced by Congress and the Federal Communications Commission, would transform the free and open Internet into a closed platform like cable television.”
This is “much worse than a business arrangement between two companies. It’s a signed-sealed-and-delivered policy framework with giant loopholes that blesses the carving up of the Internet for a few deep-pocketed Internet companies and carriers”,it says
MoveOn.org has a petition to be presented to Google — “Google: Say no to the reported agreement with Verizon to kill Net Neutrality and the open Internet”.
In Canada, “We don’t support any side deals to carve up the wired and wireless world”, says NDP digital media spokesman Charlie Angus, going on, “this deal is the wrong deal at the wrong time in the history of the internet.”
“Innovation isn’t going to be served by claiming that only some content belongs in the realm of the ‘public’ internet’,” he says.
For its part, Google is dressing its move up as “protection for consumers” claiming “No other company is working as tirelessly for an open Internet.”
It’s “true that Google previously has advocated for certain openness safeguards to be applied in a similar fashion to what would be applied to wireline services”, it admits.
But “in the spirit of compromise, we have agreed to a proposal that allows this market to remain free from regulation for now, while Congress keeps a watchful eye.”
The guiding principle
“What is real net neutrality?”- asks Free Press, going on >>>
Net Neutrality is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Net Neutrality means that Internet service providers may not discriminate between different kinds of content and applications online. It guarantees a level playing field for all Web sites and Internet technologies.
Why the Verizon-Google Framework Is Fake Net Neutrality
Today’s legislative framework announced by Google and Verizon departs dramatically from the core components of real Net Neutrality. Put simply, it is a framework that opens the door wide open for ISPs and deep-pocketed content companies to engage in practices that will turn the open Internet platform into something that more closely resembles the closed cable TV model.
Here’s why:
1. The deal explicitly precludes the application of Net Neutrality rules to wireless networks. This means everything from outright blocking of websites and applications to pay-for-priority treatment will be permissible on wirelessnetworks.
2. Strong non-discrimination rules are key to preserving the open Internet, on wired and wireless platforms. But theproposed non-discrimination standard for wired networks is extremely weak and opens the door to outright blocking of applications in the name of ‘reasonable network management.’ Under this standard, Comcast’s universally denounced blocking of the BitTorrent application would have been a permissible practice.
3. The deal allows ISPs to split the open public Internet into two ‘pipes.’ One of these pipes will be devoted to socalled ‘managed services,’ a pay-for-play platform that will destroy today’s level playing field that gives every new startup the chance to turn a good idea into the next Google or Facebook. This could also lead to exclusive deals that restrict consumer choice and reduce competition. Most worrisome is that the presence of pay-for-play managed services could stifle the growth of the open Internet, freezing the ‘public’ Internet in 2010 while the ‘private’ Internet takes a few big players on the fast lane into the future.
4. The deal allows ISPS, not users, to determine which applications need Quality of Service treatment. This breaks long-developed international Internet standards and threatens to turn the Internet from a robust all-purpose platform into a platform optimized to deliver today’s — not tomorrow’s — most popular applications.
The Right Path Forward: The FCC Must Establish Authority Over Broadband and Enact Strong Net Neutrality Rules
Unlike the traditional broadcasting, cable and print mass media, the Internet is free from gatekeepers. This openness unleashed an unprecedented wave of innovation and competition online and preserving that force should be a top priority for policymakers.
Preserving the open Internet begins with the FCC restoring its authority over broadband communications by reversing
the misguided classification decisions of the Bush-era FCC. This restoration of authority will immediately place all
broadband networks under the congressionally mandated principle of non-discrimination, and will give the agency the
authority it needs to codify this principle into predictable, enforceable bright-line rules that prohibit discrimination.
These rules ultimately must include all technologies — both wired and wireless — but can give carriers some flexibility under a narrowly tailored reasonable network management standard. This framework cannot permit managed services to stifle the growth of the open Internet and tilt the scales of competition in favor of established players. Ultimately the framework should empower users, not ISPs or content companies, to decide what applications need special treatment.
Letting consumers be in the drivers seat is why the Internet has been so successful at creating new market players likeGoogle, and policymakers should recognize that the future of our innovation economy is far too important to be decided by two market giants.
Stay tuned.
Google: Don’t Be Evil from MoveOn.org Official Channel on Vimeo.
… and identi.ca
charge a fee – Google and Verizon: telling it like it isn’t, August 10, 2010
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August 14th, 2010 at 4:04 am
You know everyone is painting an evil picture on Google when most of us don’t understand whats really going on. All Google is saying is that the internet is young and that the government should not place any restrictions on it as of yet.
Google truly does no evil. Or do they? There is this one article I read at http://tech-senses.com/ called “How doing Business With Google Almost Killed A Company”. That is probably the most evil thing Google has ever done.
August 14th, 2010 at 11:09 am
Goggle is going down a slippery path. companies like google who get to big for their boots will respond when their bottom line money starts to dwindle. I for one will stop using google search and will inform all my contacts, family and friends to stop using google search.