Net, Telecom Firms Launch Broadband Advisory Group
June 9, 2010
| 12:21 PM
Firms that have been on opposite sides of the network neutrality debate announced Wednesday that they are teaming up to launch a Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group aimed at developing consensus on broadband network management practices.
The group is aimed at attempting to find some common ground on the technical issues related to the ongoing debate over network neutrality, the principle that broadband providers should not discriminate against Internet content. The FCC's efforts to implement net neutrality rules were put in doubt in April when a federal appeals court found that the commission overstepped its authority over broadband when it challenged Comcast's network management practices.
Leading the group is the respected engineer Dale Hatfield, a former FCC chief technologist who now serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado and as the executive director of the school's Silicon Flatirons Center.
The group said in a statement that it hopes to address specific technical issues to "minimize related policy disputes" and serve as a "sounding board for new ideas and network management practices." It also aims to promote outreach within the Internet technical community, identify "best practices" by broadband providers; and provide technical guidance.
"The TAG will function as a neutral, expert technical forum and promote a greater consensus around technical practices within the Internet community," Hatfield said in the statement.
Describing the group as a "work in progress," Google Telecom and Media Counsel Richard Whitt said in a blog post that "the purpose of the BITAG is not to replace the oversight and enforcement authority of the FCC or any other government body. Rather, we hope the BITAG can bring together some of the smartest technical minds in this space to provide some useful guidance to policymakers and Internet stakeholders alike."
AT&T, which has often clashed with Google, also is participating in the group. AT&T Assistant Vice President of Public Policy Brent Olson said in a blog post that "this effort demonstrates the interdependence of all players and their mutual interest in and desire for innovation in the internet platform."
Other participants include Cisco Systems, Comcast, EchoStar Corp., Intel, Level 3 Communications, Microsoft, Time Warner Cable and Verizon.
Public interest groups that have called on the FCC to implement net neutrality rules offered muted praise for the effort.
Media Access Project President Tyrone Brown said the advisory group is a "potentially useful step to help inform the Federal Communications Commission in developing effective mechanisms for supervising broadband access. ... We will be especially interested in how this organization is governed and how open and transparent its operations will be."
Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said she is "cautiously optimistic that it may do some good," but lamented that the group's initial makeup is dominated by the telecommunications industry. She said her group also will "watch closely as the group develops policies and processes, including figuring out who is eligible to join and the process by which issues are submitted and decided."
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