Net Neutrality Update

If you are as worried as I am about the left’s effort to force ever larger amounts of big government onto our lives, then you should be looking into the issue of Net Neutrality. To that end a few times a week I’ll be posting some links and info about Net Neutrality to help you all get your feet wet on this important issue.

Here are just a few of the latest articles on Net Neutrality for your information:

Internet Engineering Task Force Says ‘AT&T Is Misleading’ on Net Neutrality
Free Press by Staff

WASHINGTON — AT&T filed a letter last week with the Federal Communications Commission claiming its plans for “paid prioritization” arrangements were supported by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the international body that develops and promotes Internet standards. In its letter, which attempted to conflate AT&T’s anti-consumer plans with accepted business-class network management practices, the company stated that paid prioritization “was fully contemplated by the IETF.”

Preserve Internet access
Buffalo News by Staff

Technology is closing in on the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC must flex whatever muscles it has in what is becoming an out-of-control situation between two leading players in Internet service and content–Google and Verizon.

Net Neutrality: Flash Point for Foes of Big Government
Time, by Alex Altman

On a Thursday night in August, some 750 people crammed into a high school auditorium in Minneapolis to discuss the future of the Internet. Most of them went to beseech members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to act to protect Internet neutrality, the premise that all data on the Web should be treated equally. During the three-hour forum, organized by the pro-Net-neutrality coalition Save the Internet, an array of speakers warned that without safeguards in place, corporate behemoths would cut lucrative deals to prioritize some kinds of content and throttle others, turning themselves into the unofficial gatekeepers of the world’s best leveling force. Net neutrality, said Senator Al Franken, is “the First Amendment issue of our time.”

Google, Verizon and the FCC: Inside the War Over the Internet’s Future
Daily Finance, by Sam Gustin

It was a high-stakes gamble gone terribly wrong… At approximately 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 5, Federal Communications Commission Chief of Staff Edward Lazarus walked into a conference room where his boss, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, was meeting with public interest groups discussing federal broadband policy.

Internet Freedom Isn’t Just Another Word
Public Knowledge, by Art Brodsky

To hear some big-time business columnists tell it, fighting for freedom is a bad thing… The usually sensible Steve Pearlstein at the Washington Post notes that, “net neutrality zealots” (also known as “ayatollahs of net neutrality”) worked themselves into a “self-righteous lather” over the Verizon-Google compromise on Net Neutrality, caring more about “principles” than the “real world.”

NO: Regulations would hurt innovation, discourage investments, hinder job creation
Detroit Free Press, by Robert Ficano

The Internet has been a model for innovation and progress, as well as a vehicle for bridging the gap at all socioeconomic levels. It’s a global resource connecting billions of people who, without it, wouldn’t have ever had the chance to connect, and has become the most important communications tool utilized today.

YES: Without clear rules, providers could limit access
Detroit Free Press, by S. Derek Turner

You probably take the open Internet for granted. When you go online, you go wherever you want and do whatever you want, anytime. The Internet is the modern town square — and the beauty of it is there are no gatekeepers, tollbooths or walled gardens getting in the way. All of this openness is made possible by the principle of “network neutrality.”

Net neutrality a clash of old, new business models, ComReg chair says
Digital 21, by John Kennedy

Alex Chisholm talks about net neutrality, Ireland’s digital dividend and next-generation networks… Just because the net neutrality debate hasn’t flared up in a meaningful way in Europe yet, telecoms regulators across the EU are talking about it and are concerned, the recently appointed chairman of ComReg Alex Chisholm confirms. So too are European telecoms companies, and they are very worried.

Watchdog Cautions FCC Against Sliding Down Slippery ‘Paid Prioritization’ Slope
Media Post, by Wendy Davis

The influential watchdog group Center for Democracy & Technology has told the the Federal Communications Commission that allowing companies to pay Internet service providers for prioritized delivery of content would hurt the Web’s openness.

Does the FCC need to rescue the internet?
Oregon Business Report, by Tom Gurr

Is the Internet broken? It appears the FCC would like you to believe that it is. They are in the midst of pursuing an aggressive regulatory overhaul to “fix” the Internet that we all use and enjoy today. But the courts won’t give the FCC the regulatory authority it wants and it looks like Congress is not in a hurry to do it either. So the FCC has decided to make an end-run around the courts and Congress to re-classify the Internet as a “telecommunications service” in order to apply regulations to the World Wide Web that were designed for rotary telephone service in the 1930s.

Here are a few anti-Net Neutrality organizations and Web Resources that are worth looking in on occasionally:

Here are some industry websites that follow Internet regulations:

We hope that you will post our articles and press releases. We also hope that our emailings will interest you enough to join the fight and write a few blog posts about Net Neutrality.

At stake is no less our freedom to blog not to mention the innovation of a free market.

Feel free to drop me a line at igcolonel@hotmail.com and do let me know if you are interested in helping to get the free market, conservative narrative on Net Neutrality out to your readers. This issue is vitally important for the freedom and success of our Internet.

This effort is in association with the United States Internet Industry Association (USIIA).

Share this!

Enjoy reading? Share it with your friends!