Heads Knocking On Net Neutrality
While telecom lobbyists are brainstorming in Washington on strategies for preserving Internet openness, two members of the FCC are headed to Minnesota today to get some public input on the mushrooming issue of net neutrality.
Commissioners Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn were invited by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., to attend a public forum in Minneapolis this evening on the future of the Internet. Franken's office pointedly noted that the hearing "comes in the wake of Google's pact with Verizon to build toll lanes on the Internet," a reference to a legislative proposal floated by the two companies last week offering an alternative to stronger FCC regulation of the Internet.
The Google-Verizon plan sparked a move by lobbyists for other high-tech companies to jump-start their own dialogue on recent moves by the FCC to consider beefing up regulation of broadband services. Talks on the issue were held Wednesday at the offices of the Information Technology Industry Council, which represents tech giants such as Apple, Dell and Microsoft.
ITI president and CEO Dean Garfield said in a statement that the meeting was "the first in a series of focused discussions, with ITI serving as facilitator, aimed at developing Internet openness principles that can achieve broad cross-sector support."
Consumer advocacy groups razzed the confab, which reportedly did not involve anyone from the FCC. "Industry deal-making is no substitute for responsible policymaking," said Aparna Sridhar, counsel for the group Free Press. "This latest effort by a few large companies to dictate the rules behind closed doors will not protect Internet users. Industry titans will propose rules that serve only their own interests."
Today's 6 p.m. hearing in Minneapolis, co-hosted by Free Press, the Main Street Project and the Center for Media Justice, is scheduled to be streamed live at www.theuptake.org.
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