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Net Neutrality 9-11-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

Net neutrality meets election-year reality Bill is stalling in Senate; telecom firms push for video [via freepress]

Although both sides continue to press lawmakers to act, most observers say Congress is too preoccupied with pre-election politics to tackle this complex issue before Sept. 29, when senators are expected to recess.

“Conventional wisdom is that the issue will simply sit there,” said Christopher Putala, executive vice president with EarthLink, a pro-neutrality Internet company.

[. . . ]

The dispute over Internet pricing, complicated enough in its own right, is joined to a separate issue — injecting more competition into the paid television market by giving phone companies what amounts to a nationwide franchise to deliver shows through their wires.

The bill that is stalled in Congress, therefore, is really designed to promote what proponents call video choice. It would pave the way for phone companies to compete with cable and satellite vendors by using their wire networks to pipe TV into homes.

The net neutrality proposals being pushed by the Internet coalition are contained in amendment to that video choice bill.

[. . . ]

But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., put a hold on that bill — a maneuver that effectively requires 60 votes to lift — and Congress went into its summer recess leaving these twin issues of video choice and net neutrality awaiting a vote before the full Senate.

Now, most political insiders say it doesn’t look like proponents of video choice have the 60 votes they need to lift Wyden’s hold — and a Wyden staffer said he has no intention of lifting it unless he gets tough net neutrality language — making it unlikely that the full Senate will take any action soon.

[. . . there is more between after]

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 6-24-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’ve added these links to the Net Neutrality Page today.

Wresting Control from the US

On other internet-related news, there continues to be rumblings that ICANN, which currently is the US-controlled body that governs the internet, may have to cede some or even all of its power to a UN body. The UN Working Group on Internet Governance has laid out four options for the future governance of the internet:

Option One – create a UN body known as the Global Internet Council that draws its members from governments and “other stakeholders” and takes over the US oversight role of Icann.

Option Two – no changes apart from strengthening Icann’s Governmental Advisory Committee to become a forum for official debate on net issues.

Option Three – relegate Icann to a narrow technical role and set up an International Internet Council that sits outside the UN. US loses oversight of Icann.

Option Four – create three new bodies. One to take over from Icann and look after the net’s addressing system. One to be a debating chamber for governments, businesses and the public; and one to co-ordinate work on “internet-related public policy issues”.

[supernova] Michael Copps

Michael Copps of the FCC has two messages: All is not well in Washington, and we “need to do a lot more about that.”

Access to the Internet could reasonably be considered a civil right, he says. The Net is crucial, yet the US is falling in terms of per capita access to broadband. And the FCC counts 200kb as broadband. And if there’s a single person with broadband in a zip code, the FCC counts the entire zip code as having access to broadband. He says we’re the only industrialized country that has no national strategy for getting the country connected. He suggests that other countries have better competition policies or incentives.

“Let’s get the facts, do the research, do the analysis, consider our options” and implement.

“Decentralized end user control is increasingly at risk.” “The concentrated providers have the ability to build networks with traffic policies that restrict how you and I use the Internet.” Although they say they’re not going to do that, but history shows that concerns with the ability and the incentive frequently give it a try, he says.

Metro-Scale Wi-Fi as Ultimate Backup

If you’re a business owner—home, small, medium, or large—$20 per month as a backup policy against a broadband outage or a line cut that would take down a wired service is a pretty low price to pay just to have it immediately available as needed.

Remember that many of the RFPs issued by municipalities require net neutrality to be enshrined in proposals. Which, in most cases I’ve read, includes an explicit mention that any device may be attached to the network and used for any legal purpose. Thus sharing a single network connection when a business’s wired line goes down is perfectly legitimate.

The municipal architecture for most cities is either switched or mesh throughout, and it’s only dependent on a supply of power—I don’t know city-by-city requirements for backup power on mesh nodes, and I think there’s essentially no requirement for this. In Tempe, I believe six fiber drops serve the MobilePro network, with at least one dedicated to city purposes. Because they’re switched, even multiple fiber cuts wouldn’t damage the network. Likewise, a network like Philadelphia’s, according to EarthLink’s description, will be almost entirely wireless until you hit some fiber points of presence.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Net Neutrality 6-12-2006

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Net Neutrality Links

I’ve added these links to the Net Neutrality Page today.

Why has Web 2.0 Been (Relatively) Quiet on Net Neutrality??

The point is that I searched through Technorati, and could not find the usual Web 2.0 suspects writing, but just pointing people to fun videos that are cutesy; they are not really taking the banner of Net Neutrality.

I have discussed this with a couple of other bloggers – and wonder if Web 2.0 has not rushed to this because they are so caught up with themselves. Do they think that the banners of open source, community Web, and whatever the buzz words du jour are going to save their companies? If you look at the Web 2.0 sites -Facebook, Riya, YouTube, Second Life, Songbird, BitTorrent and others – they are total bandwidth hogs. Look at how much Second Life is growing, to the point that it is holding virtual conferences, virtual concerts. But at least is it suited to find ways around the potential costs of the loss of Net Neutrality, as it already charges for membership.

And, well, since Friday it is even a bigger issue since the House rejected Net Neutrality.

Now, while the big Net companies – MSFT, Google, Yahoo – have been to the hill to fight for Net Neutrality, the other side of the debate has just been as active. But is smarter and better at lobbying. Just imagine if the Web 2.0 companies rallied their users to send a letter or email to their Senators and Congressman. Would not those voices be heard, or am I a little too Mr. Smith Goes To Washington?

Net Neutrality: Who voted for What?

The largest telephone and cable companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner want to be able to decide which websites run fast, slow or not at all. They want to be able to charge extra money for fast service and if web sites don’t pay extra then they’ll be doomed to a slow connection.

Net Neutrality wants to ensure that all sites get equal treatment.
The supporters of Net Neutrality include leading high-tech companies such as Amazon.com, Earthlink, EBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Skype, Vonage and Yahoo. Prominent national figures such as Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig and FCC Commissioner Michael Copps have called for stronger Net Neutrality protections.

For More Information check out the Net Neutrality FAQ
Yesterday the House of Representatives voted NO for Net Neutrality. The list below shows the people who voted. I have arranged them by state so you can easily see how your representative voted. If you are FOR Net Neutrality and your representative voted NO then don’t vote for him/her in the next elections.
[THE COMPLETE VOTING LIST FOLLOWS]

The Marching Morons Strike Again [Read more…]