LIVE from Las Vegas: How do we move Net Neutrality forward and make it the law?
For me, the Internet represents the ultimate expression of democracy in the modern world. A person can exist without ever being judged by race, class, or gender and only be judged by what they say and do in the virtual world.
The Internet has autocratic governments running scared. Regimes in China, Iran, and elsewhere are trying to restrict their citizens' access to the marketplace of ideas, afraid of the medium's democratic potential.
The government United States is no autocracy, but autocratically run corporations based in the U.S. are scheming to impose the same kind of controls and restrictions on the Internet, albeit for different reasons.
Net Neutrality — the idea that content on the Internet is equal and should be served equally — is one of the most important policy directions that progressives are working on. But it's not getting the attention that it deserves.
The crux of the issue is that access to the Internet is classified presently as Title I under the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Recently, a federal appears court found that the FCC has no authority to referee the Internet under Title I, meaning that the FCC cannot prevent the likes of Comcast and Verizon from deciding which websites and activities their customers can or can't access (or access quickly).
Currently, small businesses and independent programmers are being treated equally; big companies don't have an advantage on the Internet. But if the FCC doesn't have the authority to enforce Net Neutrality, big telecoms will have the power to become a law unto themselves. This will disproportionally impact the poor and people of color, and will continue to have unforseen effects on the restructure of both new media and the increases of global socialization.
The road to prevent this has already been paved.
Federal courts have stated that it is within the FCC's power to reclassify broadband access under Title II, which would give them regulatory power.
Despite both the President's and FCC's statements in support of Net Neutrality, it hasn't been done. Unfortunately, the forces against it are powerful. They include not just the telecom companies themselves, but trade groups and fronts they've created for lobbying purposes. And they have the best access to Congress that money can buy. It will take heightened public pressure and increased visibility of the issue to get our government to fufill promises it has and continues to make.
The Internet has autocratic governments running scared. Regimes in China, Iran, and elsewhere are trying to restrict their citizens' access to the marketplace of ideas, afraid of the medium's democratic potential.
The government United States is no autocracy, but autocratically run corporations based in the U.S. are scheming to impose the same kind of controls and restrictions on the Internet, albeit for different reasons.
Net Neutrality — the idea that content on the Internet is equal and should be served equally — is one of the most important policy directions that progressives are working on. But it's not getting the attention that it deserves.
The crux of the issue is that access to the Internet is classified presently as Title I under the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Recently, a federal appears court found that the FCC has no authority to referee the Internet under Title I, meaning that the FCC cannot prevent the likes of Comcast and Verizon from deciding which websites and activities their customers can or can't access (or access quickly).
Currently, small businesses and independent programmers are being treated equally; big companies don't have an advantage on the Internet. But if the FCC doesn't have the authority to enforce Net Neutrality, big telecoms will have the power to become a law unto themselves. This will disproportionally impact the poor and people of color, and will continue to have unforseen effects on the restructure of both new media and the increases of global socialization.
The road to prevent this has already been paved.
Federal courts have stated that it is within the FCC's power to reclassify broadband access under Title II, which would give them regulatory power.
Despite both the President's and FCC's statements in support of Net Neutrality, it hasn't been done. Unfortunately, the forces against it are powerful. They include not just the telecom companies themselves, but trade groups and fronts they've created for lobbying purposes. And they have the best access to Congress that money can buy. It will take heightened public pressure and increased visibility of the issue to get our government to fufill promises it has and continues to make.
# Posted by Dorsol : 11:14 AM
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