The Left Continues to Break: More Cracks in Net Neutrality Front

With the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) set to make a decision on proposed net neutrality rules later this year, the fight between supporters of the controversial policy and its opponents continues to heat up.

Yesterday, a group of minority and women’s organizations reportedly called on the FCC to give serious consideration to the impact that net neutrality could have on what has been termed the “digital divide”—the widening of which, opponents argue, constitutes a potential unintended consequence of the policy, and one which has become a primary focal point of net neutrality critics’ concern.  In a letter and a proposal to the FCC, the groups—which include minority organizations that have previously spoken out regarding the net neutrality issue such as the Asian American Justice Center—have asked for a field hearing and workshop addressing the topic.

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Tags: broadband access, Communications Workers of America, FCC rulemaking, Internet Service Providers, Jesse Jackson
Posted Jan 6th 2010 at 9:59 am in Technology | 5609437 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2010/01/06/the-left-continues-to-break-more-cracks-in-net-neutrality-front/The+Left+Continues+to+Break%3A+More+Cracks+in+Net+Neutrality+Front2010-01-06+17%3A59%3A02Capitol++Confidential

Google: Openness for Thee, But Not For Me

In the ongoing fight over proposed rules that would institute net neutrality, a major proponent of the policy is taking fresh heat from critics.  Google, arguably the world’s biggest name in tech, a major source of campaign donations to President Barack Obama, and one of the most prominent advocates of an “open internet,” is taking heat for alleged hypocrisy and rent seeking.

The criticism comes as the company continues to advocate for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to impose net neutrality rules that would target internet service providers (ISPs) while opposing so-called “search neutrality” that would impact both the company and its revenues in a manner that observers of the debate say could be particularly adverse to Google.

Last week, in a post on the official Google blog, the company’s senior vice president for product management, Jonathan Rosenberg, wrote that while Google’s “goal is to keep the Internet open,” it opposes the concept of “openness” where it would apply to its own search and ad products.

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Tags: Adam Raff, Boing Boing, Erick Schonfeld, FCC, FCC rule making
Posted Dec 28th 2009 at 3:32 pm in Politics, Technology | 5306694 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2009/12/28/google-openness-for-thee-but-not-for-me/Google%3A+Openness+for+Thee%2C+But+Not+For+Me2009-12-28+23%3A32%3A05Capitol++Confidential

Even Left Groups Mobilize Against A Government Takeover of the Internet

On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission will consider “a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on policies to preserve the open Internet.” That’s a long way of saying that the FCC, led by Julius Genachowski, Obama’s old friend from Harvard Law School, will take its first steps towards forcing through net neutrality, a controversial policy that critics say would amount to a government takeover of the internet.

 
Internet Service Providers—the ones who have actually invested in the architecture and infrastructure that enables us all to access the internet—have long been opposed to net neutrality, as have conservatives and libertarians concerned about maintaining free markets and promoting innovation and quality service.  
 
But, with concerns that the FCC might now act to push net neutrality through, some voices less traditionally associated with opposition to the policy are speaking out regarding the proposed rulemaking, too.  In fact, a number of Democrats and groups typically aligned with the left—the online component of which has long treated net neutrality as a top three policy objective—seem to be feeling less than warm and fuzzy about increased government intervention with regard to the internet.

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Tags: Asian American Justice Center, Barack Obama, Communications Workers of America, Federal Communications Commission, Gov. Beverly Perdue
Posted Oct 19th 2009 at 4:31 pm in Featured Story, News, Obama, Politics | 1807086 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2009/10/19/even-left-groups-mobilize-against-a-government-takeover-of-the-internet/Even+Left+Groups+Mobilize+Against+A+Government+Takeover+of+the+Internet2009-10-19+23%3A31%3A49Capitol++Confidential