FCC commish: Net neutrality shouldn't extend to illegal acts

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:
From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: March 20, 2008 12:07:52 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] FCC commish: Net neutrality shouldn't extend to  
illegal acts

FCC commish: Net neutrality shouldn't extend to illegal acts

By Matthew Lasar | Published: March 20, 2008 - 05:21AM CT
<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080320-fcc-commish-net-neutrality-shouldnt-extend-to-illegal-acts.html 
>

While key players are slugging it out over ISP content filtering, the  
Federal Communications Commission has released a slew of decisions and  
announcements about broadband. They include a new public hearing on  
broadband network management practices and new rules for  
telecommunications services in apartment buildings. And one of the  
commissioners attempted to ease concerns of the Motion Picture  
Association of America (MPAA) over the impact of net neutrality  
regulations. (We covered the FCC's latest data on high speed broadband  
deployment last night.)

Content filtering flap
Earlier this week, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein told a  
symposium on Internet Video Policy that the various net neutrality  
proposals the agency is considering include "exemptions for illegal  
activities." Content Agenda's Paul Sweeting reports that Adelstein  
said that the Commission will be "very careful about the use of the  
Internet for illegal purposes, and that includes the illegal  
downloading of copyrighted works, which is a very serious problem."  
But, Sweeting adds, that doesn't mean Adelstein approves of content  
filtering. "The problem is, how can you ever tell what's illegal?"  
Adelstein asked the gathering.

This issue, of course, flutters close to the heart of the Recording  
Industry Association of America (RIAA) and MPAA, parties which have  
filed early and often in the FCC's proceeding on the matter. The  
MPAA's February 28 statement asserts that "ISPs must be able to use  
network management techniques to address the unauthorized distribution  
of copyrighted content taking place over their networks, for the  
benefit of legitimate consumers and subscribers." The powerful movie  
studio lobby filed the comment over a week before taking a public  
stand against net neutrality at the Showest convention in Las Vegas.  
There, MPAA boss Dan Glickman declared that government regulation of  
the Internet "would impair the ability of broadband providers to  
address the serious and rampant piracy problems occurring over their  
networks today."

The MPAA's stance has provoked a less publicized but quite furious  
response from the Independent Film and Television Alliance, whose CEO  
Jean Prewitt forwarded the IFTA's statement to the FCC's net  
neutrality docket. Prewitt's March 14 comment disclosed that the group  
was "astounded to read" that the MPAA had come out against net  
neutrality. Describing the Internet as the only truly open opportunity  
for independent filmmakers, Prewitt called that hope "threatened by  
the power of a small number of broadband providers to discriminate  
unilaterally against some categories of users or types of traffic or  
to accord preferential treatment to certain content providers over  
others, all under the ambiguous claim of 'network management'."

[snip]


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