The FCC and Net Neutrality

It appears as if the current FCC management is about to undo what is called Net Neutrality. A while back I wrote a long piece in Internet Neutrality while still back at MIT. My point was simply that a carrier is just that, a carrier, and since the days of Elizabeth I this concept was accepted and became the element which led to the dominance of England in world trade. Now comes the FCC and the incumbents. The FCC has never been known for much more than a political equivocator depending on whose party is in charge. So one should not expect anything more than an expression, nay and echo, of what the powers to be or those in charge really want.

Wired magazine has a piece that somehow thinks this is all new. They state:

This past April, the Federal Communications Commission invited the American people to weigh in on whether the federal government should roll back the rules currently in place to protect net neutrality. By the time the online comment submission period ended last Wednesday, the agency had collected 21.9 million comments, an astounding level of participation on what at first glance appears to be a rather esoteric telecommunications policy issue. (For comparison, when the FCC received around 500,000 postcards and emails about its media ownership rule changes in 2003, it was considered a big deal. Even Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl garnered only about 1.4 million comments.) So what did the people say? The industry group Broadband for America, which opposes the FCC's current rules, recently commissioned an analysis of the comments from a company called Emprata. The study determined that a majority of the comments–about 60 percent–favor keeping the FCC's current rules, which classify internet service providers as "Title II" common carriers like mobile and landline phone companies and ban them from blocking or interfering with lawful content. If you look only at unique comments, as opposed to form letters using boilerplate text, those in favor of keeping the Title II rules outweigh those who want to jettison the rules 1.52 million to 23,000. The only hitch: the commenting process was such a debacle that the legitimacy of the entire body of comments is now in question.

Should one be surprised that the FCC's system  is so let us say reckless? Hardly. It is a Government controlled process. Some Beltway Bandit probably wrote the specs, then another Beltway Bandit did the software. And in the midst of this no one is really responsible for anything. So one expects rational actions from these folks.

In my experience and in my opinion I saw the FCC up close. If I went in with some issue, my opponent was in the waiting room after I finished to rebut my position. How did they find out? Simple, the Sunshine rule, the FCC tells everyone everything. In those days one filed a paper document. Yes it was cumbersome and yes form was important. But it meant that someone had to give some thought to the process and multiple filings were difficult. The on line approach allows for slamming of various types not to mention the system allows the uploading on anything, yes folks anything.

These then are the people who will control our information flow. One should understand that the main ISPs, such as Comcast, Verizon, AT&T are also  in the media business and promulgate their own interests. They carry a big stick, and they also have great carrots for FCC officials when they go out in the world. Just look at the heads of major industry lobbying groups!

So what will happen with Net Neutrality; ask the largest bidder!