Supreme Court's Brand X Decision Endangers the Principle of Net Neutrality

[Guest guest]

rom: C

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 11:42:02 -0500

bye bye free internet

 

 

 

 

June 27 - this day's Supreme Court decision is paving the way for the

end of the internet as free, open, diverse, and competitive. With

this ruling, a cable company (or one of the few other 'baby bells'

that control access in the U.S.), can effectively determine what

content to block as some are already doing with Al Jazeera.english --

and which companies to favor (i.e. Vonage, one of the first internet

phone companies, is slowly being pushed out by Time Warner's subtle

refusal to service it appropriately in favor of their own, higher-cost

internet phone service).

 

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> http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/BrandXdown.html

 

 

 

For Immediate Release

(202-494-7100)(202-986-2220)

June 27, 2004

(www.democraticmedia.org)

 

 

 

Schwartzman, Media Access Project (202-232-4300)

Supreme Court's Brand X Decision Endangers the Principle of Net Neutrality

Court Strikes a Blow Against Freedom Online

Battle Now Goes to Congress and the American Public

 

 

 

Note: CDD was one of the petitioners in this case, along with

Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America. The Media

Access Project served as legal counsel for CDD.

 

June 27, 2005

 

Washington, DC: Today's decision by the Supreme Court to overturn the

Ninth Circuit Court's classification of cable modems as a

" telecommunications service " (and thus subject to the open access

regulations that have long governed the dial-up Internet) poses a

grave threat to the future of the Internet.

 

By upholding the FCC's March 2002 Declaratory Ruling that classified

cable Internet as an unregulated " information service, " the Supreme

Court has paved the way for a privatized, tightly controlled broadband

environment that will bear little resemblance to the open, diverse,

and competitive Internet of the past.

 

As the ACLU warned in its Brand X brief to the Supreme Court, " …cable

companies can leverage ownership of the physical infrastructure into

control of citizens' access to and use of the Internet. This

threatens free speech and privacy. A cable company that has complete

control over its customers' access to the Internet could censor their

ability to speak, block their access to disfavored information

services, monitor their online activity, and subtly manipulate the

information sources they rely on. "

 

The decision now leaves the vast majority of broadband households in

the US at the mercy of just two companies--the local cable monopoly or

one of four remaining " Baby Bells " --for their connections to what the

courts once described as " … the most participatory form of mass speech

yet developed…. " They will operate these networks as the same

top-down monopolies that have dominated both the cable and local

telephone business.

 

" Today the Court struck a blow against freedom online, " said Jeff

Chester, CDD's executive director. " The Internet they have bestowed

promotes the interest of a few big media companies against the best

interests of the public--in the U.S. and globally. It's time that

Congress heard from Americans that Big Media shouldn't be allowed to

control the future of the Internet. "

 

 

Links

 

Supreme Court Brand X Decision (PDF)

 

Justice Scalia's Dissenting Opinion (with Justices Souter and

Ginsburg) on Brand X Case (PDF)

 

Justice Breyer's Concurring Decision on Brand X Case (PDF)

 

The Center for Digital Democracy (www.democraticmedia.org) is a

Washington-based nonprofit organization dedicated to maintaining the

diversity and openness of the media, focusing especially on the new

broadband communications platforms.