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Broadband Census Act Drains Power from TelecomsThe Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved October 10 the Broadband Census of America Act of 2007, which promotes the further development of nationwide broadband services by improving collection of data and mapping. Under the bill, the Federal Communications Commission would use a consumer survey to gather pricing and service information rather than rely on telecommunications companies for data. “The bill also aims to assist underserved communities in taking concrete steps to improve broadband deployment in their areas,” Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) said in a statement, noting that some details still needed to be resolved before the bill moves to full Committee markup. The American Library Association’s Office for Information Technology addressed similar issues September 18 when it cosponsored in Manhattan, Kansas, a Broadband Summit with the State Library of Kansas, which focused on broadband deployment to libraries in rural states. The proposed legislation follows the September 6 filing by the Justice Department of comments urging the FCC to avoid sanctioning net neutrality regulations. Such rules, the DOJ claimed, could discourage innovation from telecoms, which may rely on tiered internet service and pricing to pay for necessary internet upgrades. “Consumers and the economy are benefiting from the innovative and dynamic nature of the internet,” said Thomas O. Barnett, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department Antitrust Division. “Regulators should be careful not to impose regulations that could limit consumer choice and investment in broadband facilities.” Net neutrality lost two rounds in Congress in June 2006, when the House rejected a net neutrality provision of the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act, and the Senate defeated the Internet Freedom Preservation Act. “The Bush administration’s decision to oppose internet freedom flies in the face of the open nature of the internet, which has fostered unprecedented innovation and economic growth,” countered Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) in a September 6 statement. “Network neutrality safeguards would preserve the open architecture of the internet and prevent companies from downgrading and discriminating against competitive internet services and applications.” “ALA is not opposed to ISPs offering traditional tiered pricing, when the pricing for bandwidth is determined by speeds available to a given consumer and/or the amount of bandwidth consumed. What ALA opposes is any blocking or relegation of internet traffic,” said ALA President Loriene Roy September 10. “ALA believes that an open network, free from discrimination, is essential to giving the public access to any lawful content within the library.” In apparent agreement, the American Civil Liberties Union called upon Congress to conduct hearings to investigate recent actions by telecoms, including Verizon’s brief attempt at blocking political speech in cell phone text messaging. “Internet service providers cannot be trusted to protect consumers’ access to information or their freedom of speech,” Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, said October 5. “These very same companies are spending millions of dollars to lobby Congress for the right to block our access to content on the internet. We now see where that will lead us.” Posted October 12, 2007; modified October 13, 2007. |
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