Internet Pioneers Speak Out on Net Neutrality

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: October 16, 2009 5:57:57 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Internet Pioneers Speak Out on Net Neutrality



                Internet Pioneers Speak Out on Net Neutrality

             http://www.vortex.com/FCC-Net-Neutrality-Letter.pdf

                http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000625.html


15 October 2009

Honorable Julius Genachowski
Chairman, Federal Communications Commission
Washington, DC
Via email

Dear Mr. Chairman:

We appreciate the opportunity to send you this letter.  As individuals
who have worked on the Internet and its predecessors continuously
beginning in the late 1960s, we are very concerned that access to the
Internet be both open and robust.  We are very pleased by your recent
proposal to initiate a proceeding for the consideration of safeguards
to that end.

In particular, we believe that your network neutrality proposal's key
principles of "nondiscrimination" and "transparency" are necessary
components of a pro-innovation public policy agenda for this nation.
This initiative is both timely and necessary, and we look forward to a
data-driven, on-the-record proceeding to consider all of the various
options.

We understand that your proposal, while not even yet part of a public
proceeding, already is meeting with strong and vocal resistance from
some of the organizations that the American public depends upon for
broadband access to the Internet.  As you know, the debate on this
topic has been lengthy, and many parties opposing the concept have
systematically mischaracterized the views of those who endorse and
support your position.

We believe that the existing Internet access landscape in the U.S.
provides inadequate choices to discipline the market through
facilities-based competition alone.  Your network neutrality proposals
will help protect U.S. Internet users' choices for and freedom to
access all available Internet services, worldwide, while still
providing for responsible network operation and management practices,
including appropriate privacy-preserving protections against denial of
service and other attacks.

One persistent myth is that "network neutrality" somehow requires that
all packets be treated identically, that no prioritization or quality
of service is permitted under such a framework, and that network
neutrality would forbid charging users higher fees for faster speed
circuits.  To the contrary, we believe such features are permitted
within a "network neutral" framework, so long they are not applied in
an anti-competitive fashion.

We believe that the vast numbers of innovative Internet applications
over the last decade are a direct consequence of an open and freely
accessible Internet. Many now-successful companies have deployed their
services on the Internet without the need to negotiate special
arrangements with Internet Service Providers, and it's crucial that
future innovators have the same opportunity.  We are advocates for
"permissionless innovation" that does not impede entrepreneurial
enterprise.

We commend your initiative to protect and maintain the Internet's
unique openness, and support the FCC process for considering the
adoption of your proposed nondiscrimination and transparency
principles.

Respectfully,

Vinton G. Cerf, Internet Pioneer
Stephen D. Crocker, Internet Pioneer
David P. Reed, Internet Pioneer
Lauren Weinstein, Internet Pioneer
Daniel Lynch, Internet Pioneer



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