CONGRESS POISED TO UNRAVEL THE INTERNET

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http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=1506

 

 

 

 

August 21, 2006

 

CONGRESS POISED TO UNRAVEL THE INTERNET

 

 

Diary Entry by Diane's News Clips

 

 

Lured by huge checks handed out by the country's top lobbyists,

members of Congress could soon strike a blow against Internet freedom

as they seek to resolve the hot-button controversy over preserving

" network neutrality. "

 

::::::::

..ron corvuswire

 

CONGRESS POISED TO UNRAVEL THE INTERNET Jeffrey Chester

 

Lured by huge checks handed out by the country's top lobbyists,

members of Congress could soon strike a blow against Internet freedom

as they seek to resolve the hot-button controversy over preserving

" network neutrality. " http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester ,

The telecommunications reform

bill now moving through Congress threatens to be a major setback for

those who hope that digital media can foster a more democratic

society. The bill not only precludes net neutrality safeguards but

also eliminates local community oversight of digital communications

provided by cable and phone giants. It sets the stage for the

privatized, consolidated and unregulated communications system that is

at the core of the phone

and cable lobbies' political agenda.

 

In both the House and Senate versions of the bill, Americans are

described as " consumers " and " rs, " not citizens deserving

substantial rights when it comes

to the creation and distribution of digital media. A handful of

companies stand to gain incredible monopoly power from such

legislation, especially AT & T, Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon. They

have already used their political clout in Washington to

secure for the phone and cable industries a stunning 98 percent

control of the US residential market for high-speed Internet.

 

Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens, the powerful Commerce Committee

chair, is trying to line up votes for his " Advanced Telecommunications

and Opportunities Reform Act. "

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.02686: It was Stevens

who called the Internet a " series of tubes, "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yedwtx9tke, as

he tried to explain his bill. Now the subject of well-honed satirical

jabs from The Daily Show, as well as dozens of independently made

videos, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5rqrxkggcm, Stevens is

hunkering down to get his bill passed by the Senate

when it reconvenes in September.

 

But thanks to the work of groups like Save the Internet,

http://www.savetheinternet.com/, many Senate Democrats now oppose the

bill because

of its failure to address net neutrality. (Disclosure: The Center for

Digital Democracy,

http://www.democraticmedia.org/, where I work, is a member of that

coalition.) Oregon Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, Maine Republican

Olympia Snowe and North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan have joined

forces to protect the US Internet. Wyden has placed a " hold " on the

bill, requiring Stevens (and the phone and cable lobbies) to

strong-arm sixty colleagues to prevent a filibuster. But with a number

of GOP senators in tight races now fearful of opposing net neutrality,

the bill's chances for passage before the midterm election are slim.

Stevens, however, may be able to gain enough support for passage when

Congress returns for a lame-duck session.

 

DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL

 

Thus far, the strategy of the phone and cable lobbies has been to

dismiss concerns about net neutrality as either paranoid fantasies or

political discontent from progressives. " It's a made-up issue, " AT & T

CEO Ed Whitacre said in early August at a meeting of state regulators.

New Hampshire Republican Senator John Sununu claims that net

neutrality is " what the liberal left have hung their hat on, "

suggesting that the outcry over Internet freedom is more partisan than

substantive. Other critics of net neutrality, including many front

groups, http://handsoff.org/hoti_docs/aboutus/members.shtml, have

tried to frame the debate around unsubstantiated fears about users

finding access to websites blocked, pointing to a 2005 FCC policy

statement that " consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet

content of their choice. " But the issue of blocking has been

purposefully raised to shift the focus from what should be the real

concerns about why the phone and cable giants are challenging federal

rules requiring nondiscriminatory treatment of digital content.

 

Verizon, Comcast and the others are terrified of the Internet as we

know it today.

Net neutrality rules would jeopardize their far-reaching plans to

transform our digital communications system. Both the cable and phone

industries recognize that if their broadband pipes (now a monopoly)

must be operated in an open and neutral fashion, they will face real

competition--and drastically reduced revenues--from an ever-growing

number of lower-cost phone and video providers. Alcatel, a major

technology company helping Verizon and AT & T build their broadband

networks, notes in one business white paper,

http://www.democraticmedia.org/pdfs/alcatelpureplay.pdf , that cable

and phone companies are " really competing with the Internet as a

business model, which is even more formidable than just competing with

a few innovative service aggregators

such as Google, and Skype. " (Skype is a telephone service

provider using the Internet.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/skype

 

POLICY RACKET

 

The goal of dominating the nation's principal broadband pipeline

serving all of our everyday (and ever-growing) communications needs is

also a major motivation behind opposition to net neutrality. Alcatel

and other broadband equipment firms are helping the phone and cable

industries build what will be a reconfigured Internet--one optimized

to generate what they call " triple play, "

http://www.democraticmedia.org/pdfs/alcateltripleplay.pdf, profits

from " high revenue services such as video, voice and multimedia

communications. " Triple play means generating revenues from a single

customer who is using a bundle of services for phone, TV and PC--at

home, at work or via wireless devices. The corporate system emerging

for the United States (and elsewhere in the world) is being designed

to boost how much we spend on services, so phone and cable providers

can increase what they call our " ARPU " (average revenue per user).

This is the " next generation " Internet system being created for us,

one purposefully designed to facilitate the needs of a mass

consumerist culture.

 

Absent net neutrality and other safeguards, the phone/cable plan seeks

to impose what is called a " policy-based " broadband system that

creates " rules " of service for every user and online content provider.

How much one can afford to spend would determine the range and quality

of digital media access. Broadband connections would be governed by

ever-vigilant network software engaged in " traffic policing " to insure

each user couldn't exceed the " granted resources " supervised by

" admission control " technologies. Mechanisms are being put in place so

our monopoly providers can " differentiate charging in real time for a

wide range of applications and events. " Among the services that can

form the basis of new revenues, notes Alcatel, is online content

related to " community, forums, Internet access, information, news,

find your way (navigation), marketing push, and health monitoring. "

 

Missing from the current legislative debate on communications is how

the plans of cable and phone companies threaten civic participation,

the free flow of information and meaningful competition. Nor do the

House or Senate versions of the bill insure that the public will

receive high-speed Internet service at a reasonable price. According

to market analysts, the costs US users pay for broadband service is

more than eight times higher than what rs pay in Japan and

South Korea. (Japanese consumers pay a mere 75 cents per megabit.

South Koreans are charged only 73 cents. But US users are paying $6.10

per megabit. Internet service abroad is also much faster than it is here.)

 

Why are US online users being held hostage to higher rates at slower

speeds? Blame the business plans of the phone and cable companies. As

technology pioneer Bob Frankston and PBS tech columnist Robert

Cringely recently explained ,

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060629.html, the phone and

cable companies see our broadband future as merely a " billable event. "

Frankston and Cringely urge us to be part of a movement where we--and

our communities--are not just passive generators of corporate profit

but proactive creators of our own digital futures. That means we would

become owners of the " last mile " of fiber wire, the key link to the

emerging broadband world. For about $17 a month, over ten years, the

high-speed connections coming to our homes would be ours--not in

perpetual hock to phone or cable monopolists. Under such a scenario,

notes Cringely, we would just pay around $2 a month for super-speed

Internet access.

 

Regardless of whether Congress passes legislation in the fall,

progressives need to create a forward-looking telecom policy agenda.

They should seek to insure online access for low-income Americans,

provide public oversight of broadband services, foster the development

of digital communities and make it clear that the public's free speech

rights online are paramount. It's now time to help kill the Stevens

" tube " bill and work toward a digital future where Internet access is

a right--and not dependent on how much we can pay to " admission

control. " http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060828/internet_bill

-----

http://capwiz.com/thenation/home/

 

 

 

Diane's News Service, a.k.a. Diane's News Clips, has been finding &

publishing raw and important news - other items of interest, from here

& around the world for 3-years, that is, until aol blocked it --

Aaaaarugh!!!

(welcome to the New World Order,) has the good fortune to share this

outlet with other progressives at invitation from Rob/OpEdNews.

 

I look forward to your comments. In the meantime, have a progressive

day! Diane

 

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