Press Release: FCC Policies that Damaged Media Now Threatening Internet

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
> Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 09:56:49 -0700
> From: Robert Cannon <rcannon100 () YAHOO COM>
> Subject: Press Release: FCC Policies that Damaged Media Now Threatening 
> Internet
> Sender: Telecom Regulation & the Internet <CYBERTELECOM-L () LISTSERV AOL COM>
> To: CYBERTELECOM-L () LISTSERV AOL COM
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                          News Media
> contact:
> October 9, 2003                                 Jessica Rosenworcel at (202)
> 418-2000
>
> FCC POLICIES THAT DAMAGED MEDIA
> NOW THREATENING INTERNET
>
> Commissioner Copps Asks in Speech "Is The Internet As
> We Know It Dying?"
>
> Commissioner Michael J. Copps, in a speech at the New
> America Foundation, today warned that: "The Internet
> as we know it is at risk. Entrenched interests are
> positioning themselves to control the network's
> chokepoints and they are lobbying the FCC to aid and
> abet them.  The Internet was designed to prevent
> government or a corporation or anyone else from
> controlling it.  But this original vision of the
> Internet may soon be lost.  In its place a warped view
> that open networks should be replaced by closed
> networks and that accessibility can be superceded by a
> new power to discriminate is emerging."
>
>         Copps continued: "Our ill-advised Internet policy is
> only one piece of a tectonic shift across the whole
> range of FCC issues.  From media to telecom to the
> Internet, we appear to be rushing toward breathtaking
> regulatory alterations.  The Commission is permitting,
> even encouraging, competition to wither in the face of
> centralization.  It is short changing its
> responsibility to protect the public interest."
>
>         The FCC may soon implement fundamental regulatory
> changes that would have deep and lasting effects on
> consumers, innovators, and business users.  Copps:
> "Until now the big corporations that control Internet
> bottlenecks have been unable fully to capitalize on
> this power.  But now we face scenarios wherein those
> with bottleneck control will be able to discriminate
> against both users and content providers that they
> don't have commercial relationships with, don't share
> the same politics with, or just don't want to offer
> access to for any reason at all.  From the not so
> distant shadows of the past, old attitudes favoring
> industry consolidation and limited access are again
> seeking to reestablish themselves."
>
>         At issue are upcoming decisions at the FCC that will
> determine how much control companies will have over
> Internet access and their ability to discriminate
> against users, data, websites, or technologies.  In
> the dial-up world, current protections require these
> companies to treat everyone equally. This equal
> treatment has contributed to enormous growth and
> innovation on the Internet. These decisions come on
> the heels of the FCC eliminating related media
> concentration protections.  A federal court has stayed
> that decision, and Congress is now debating reversing
> it.  In addition, on Monday, another federal court
> overturned aspects of the FCC's cable broadband
> policy.
>
>
> =====
>        ||
>  \     @@==+   Leashes!
>   ======       We Don't Need No Stinkin' Leashes!
>   ||  ||                  -Pancho Villa
> Washington Internet Project
> www.cybertelecom.org

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