Net Neutrality's Death Could Spark Populist Revolt By Ron Fournier May 6, 2014
In the Gilded Age, wrenching economic and technological change hardened life for the vast majority of Americans while an elite few prospered. Innovators like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt disrupted old industries, creating news ones, and cemented their fortunes via government-approved monopolies. The most pernicious of these were railroad trusts. In our times, wrenching economic and technological change hardens life for the vast majority of Americans while an elite few prosper. Innovators like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg disrupt old industries, create news ones and …. We know how the Gilded Age ended – in a populist uprising against monopolies, sparked by muckraking journalists and harnessed by a trust-busting president named Teddy Roosevelt. Who will be our era's T.R.? Well, a leader needs a cause. A better question might be, what will be the modern-day trust – a force so destructive and distant and deeply engrained that a sleepy public is stirred to revolt? If history is a guide, our generation's Standard Oil, the populists' boogeyman, may be Comcast, Verizon and/or AT&T – the sprawling internet providers who, like Rockefeller and his railroad co-conspirators, could monopolize the price and quality of indispensable goods. Yes, net neutrality could be the issue that inspires a Tech Age political revolution First, some background from Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times.
Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers can't discriminate among content providers trying to reach you online – they can't block websites or services, or degrade their signal, slow their traffic or, conversely, provide a better traffic lane for some rather than others. That's important because control over traffic flow gives ISPs tremendous power, especially those that control the last mile of access to end-users – cable operators such as Comcast and telecommunications firms such as Verizon and AT&T. Without regulation, they'd have the ability to force content providers to pay up for unrestricted transmission to their customers. While President Obama has pledged to defend net neutrality, his appointee to the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, appears to be siding with the would-be monopolists. Hiltzik continues: His proposal would forbid ISPs to block any legal websites or services, but allow them to favor some traffic under "commercially reasonable" arrangements, to be reviewed by the FCC on a case-by-case basis. A deal Netflix recently reached with Comcast to ensure that the video company's content appears bright and sharp on Comcast customers' iPads and TVs – one that Netflix suggests it signed only because it had no alternative – would probably fall well within the rules. There is no question that allowing such arrangements would be a major retreat for the FCC. Wheeler contends that barring "commercially unreasonable" deals that "harm the Internet" or hurt consumers will be protection enough for the open Internet. His predecessor as chairman, Julius Genachowski, disagreed. In 2010, Genachowski's FCC explicitly rejected "the argument that only 'anticompetitive' discrimination yielding 'substantial consumer harm' should be prohibited by our rules." That standard, the FCC held, "could allow discriminatory conduct that is contrary to the public interest." The rules must be broader, the commission wrote -- they must forbid ISPs to "pick winners and losers on the Internet." Yet that's exactly what Wheeler's proposal would allow. What's worse is the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable. This empire of content and distribution would rival Rockefeller's hold on both oil production and railway access. Timothy B. Lee of Vox.com warns that the end of net neutrality means "smaller companies with less cash and fewer
lawyers are going to be at a competitive disadvantage." The miracle of the internet is that anyone can set up a web server, anywhere in the world, and instantly reach everyone else, no matter where they are or what network they're using. But if broadband providers started dividing their networks up into fast lanes and slow lanes, things could get more complicated. To get satisfactory service for your website, you might have to negotiate fast-lane agreements with thousands of ISPs all over the world. Companies that didn't have the money — or the manpower — to do that would be at a competitive disadvantage. There's also a danger that large internet service providers will abuse their monopoly power. Most of the leading American broadband companies also sell paid television services that compete directly with online streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. Network owners might be tempted to relegate online video services to the slow lane to prevent them from becoming a competitive threat to their lucrative paid television businesses. Or they might charge competing services a big markup for access to the fast lane, ensuring that they won't be able to undercut them on price. A final problem is that a multi-tiered business model could give ISPs perverse incentives. An ISP might be tempted to make its slow lane slower — or at least not upgrade it very quickly — to encourage content companies to pony up for fast-lane status. Where is the outrage? I asked that question of a half-dozen technology experts, including Obama administration veterans who witnessed the derailment of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, a 2012 copyright protection bill that technology activists feared would undermine internet access an innovation. Two years after an online insurgency overwhelmed the gilded institutions of Washington, the grassroots are relatively quiet. "The internet providers lost the battle and won the war," said a former Obama administration official who refused to be identified while criticizing the administration. "They've got their hooks into most members of Congress and both major parties." Said another: "Godspeed to the American consumer. We could be screwed and not know until it's too late." If net neutrality dies and the internet "rails" suddenly become more expensive and less reliable via monopolies, the protests will be loud. Cheap, easy access to information, entertainment and ecommerce are as engrained in modern American life as the telegraph and trains had become in early 20th century. Take that away, and the elites will pay. That brings me back to the Gilded Age, when innovative entrepreneurs morphed into monopolists who corrupted Washington and exploited workers. They were corralled by the era's "new media," so-called muckrakers like Upton Sinclair, S.S. McClure and Ida Tarbell. It was Tarbell who wrote a series of magazine articles on Rockefeller and Standard Oil that put an ugly human face on the trusts, galvanizing the nation behind Roosevelt's fledgling populism. In one installment, Tarbell wrote of the struggles of independent oil producers whose freight rates were suddenly doubled by the railway trusts. It had long been understood that since "the railroad held its right of way from the people," it must "be just to the people," she wrote, "treating them without discrimination" regardless of the volume of business. If she were alive today, would Tarbell write the same of Comcast, Verizon and AT&T? She would certainly conclude that, in an echo of the Gilded Age, great fortunes are being made and tough decisions await. Too much regulation hurts economic growth and new industry. Too little regulation
stifles economic and social mobility. The question that cuts across the decades is whether American social institutions – including leaders of government, the businesses community and, yes, the media – are smart enough and courageous enough to respond. The answer, more than a century ago, was yes – and not without uncertainty and struggle. But first, a sleepy public must stir.
FCC’s Grab For New Regulatory Power Could Go Beyond Broadband Providers By FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly 05/06/14 Internet application and content companies, what some refer to as “edge providers,” are increasingly concerned by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) newfound ability to regulate the Internet, and rightfully so. For years, edge providers — Pandora, Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, WhatsApp, to name just a few — have flourished from the government’s hands-off approach to the Internet. Both Republicans and Democrats championed a structure that allowed the “application layer” of Internet architecture to be free from government intervention, apart from occasional Federal Trade Commission activity. That is now subject to change. A very real threat is that edge providers could fall within the reach of the FCC’s newly invented authority to regulate the Internet under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Congress never intended to give the FCC that authority. I know because I was in the room, as a congressional staffer, when that deal was made. For years, the FCC held the same conclusion. But in 2010, when the FCC’s attempt to use other statutory provisions to regulate broadband providers failed, it re-interpreted Section 706 as a new legal basis to impose net neutrality restrictions. Although, the D.C. Circuit vacated most of those restrictions in January, the decision explicitly sanctioned Section 706 as an independent grant of regulatory authority. As a result, we now live in a world where the FCC can arguably adopt almost any rule that conceivably promotes broadband deployment. As Judge Laurence Silberman summarized in his dissent: “Presto, we have a new statute granting the FCC virtually unlimited power to regulate the Internet.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler recently announced the Commission will seek comment on proposed new net neutrality rules that will “meet the court’s test.” His focus may be on broadband providers, but edge providers shouldn’t be lulled into complacency. The notion of preserving an “open Internet” is so vague that any rules meant to accomplish that goal could unintentionally impact edge providers’ business models.
Ironically, the FCC could now start meddling with the very edge providers it has always claimed needed protection from meddling by broadband providers. And the FCC could try to use Section 706 to intervene in many other areas. Regulatory creep usually starts with calls for “regulatory parity.” The mantra will be, if you are going to impose certain regulations, then it is only fair to stick it to all market participants equally. We have already seen such arguments made in the context of the Text-to-911 rule-makings. And while ensuring a “level playing field” is a compelling argument and can be sound policy (albeit, in most instances, we should seek to ratchet down regulations not impose new burdens on everyone), it means that the wrath of government regulations could be coming for edge providers next. Expect clever regulatory attorneys to fill the record with arguments that using Section 706 to impose nondiscrimination rules on Google’s or Microsoft’s search algorithms or Apple’s operating system are needed to encourage broadband deployment. Or consider the contractual fight over programming between CBS and Time Warner Cable last year. During its retransmission dispute, CBS pulled its signal off of certain cable TV systems — and also blocked all Time Warner broadband customers from accessing CBS’s Web-based content, even outside the territory of dispute. This is precisely the kind of content-blocking broadband providers are so often accused of but aren’t actually doing. The controversy was eventually resolved, but not before it prompted some calls for the commission to investigate supposed net neutrality “violations.” This pattern will likely recur as online streaming becomes even more popular. What happens under a net neutrality regime if Netflix, YouTube, or Hulu flex their muscles in the marketplace? Should the FCC similarly scrutinize their business decisions? The only intellectually honest conclusion for net neutrality supporters is to extend the burden to everyone: broadband providers and edge providers. Beyond the issue of net neutrality, the FCC is already using Section 706 as legal justification for other actions. In January, for example, the FCC moved to establish IP trials to examine issues related to the migration to all-IP networks, and that item cited Section 706 as a source of authority. It begs the question, what else could the FCC do under Section 706 in the name of advancing broadband deployment? The possibilities are endless — and could easily reach edge providers. More concretely, the FCC may claim authority to regulate cybersecurity. It would be a very deep stretch to suggest that the Communications Act gives the FCC jurisdiction over this subject matter. And yet, the FCC is interested in becoming a relevant player on the issue. The only way to achieve that seems to be creative use of Section 706. With every Internet site, service and application vulnerable to Internet security threats, these could readily come under the purview of the FCC. I view edge providers as a significant bright spot in our struggling economy. They are tirelessly innovating, growing, and meeting — often exceeding — consumer expectations. So I worry that the FCC is about to go down a slippery slope that will create burdensome regulations and uncertainty for broadband providers and edge providers alike. This will chill the needed investment and flexibility that is fueling innovation and job growth. Edge providers should demand that the FCC return Section 706 to its original intent and wait for Congress to provide the FCC with direction on how we should regulate, if at all, the networks and services of the digital age. FCC’s grab for new regulatory power could go beyond broadband providers VIDEO BELOW http://thehill.com/special-reports/technology-may-5-2014/205260-fccs-grab-for-new-regulatorypower-could-go-beyond
FEC Chair Warns That Conservative MediaDrudge...And Sean Hannity Face RegulationLike Pacs By Paul Bedard MAY 7, 2014 Government officials, reacting to the growing voice of conservative news outlets, especially on the internet, are angling to curtail the media's exemption from federal election laws governing political organizations, a potentially chilling intervention that the chairman of the Federal Election Commission is vowing to fight. “I think that there are impulses in the government every day to second guess and look into the editorial decisions of conservative publishers,” warned Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee E. Goodman in an interview. “The right has begun to break the left’s media monopoly, particularly through new media outlets like the internet, and I sense that some on the left are starting to rethink the breadth of the media exemption and internet communications,” he added. Noting the success of sites like the Drudge Report, Goodman said that protecting conservative media, especially those on the internet, “matters to me because I see the future going to the democratization of media largely through the internet. They can compete with the big boys now, and I have seen storm clouds that the second you start to regulate them, there is at least the possibility or indeed proclivity for selective enforcement, so we need to keep the media free and the internet free.” All media has long benefited from an exemption from FEC rules, thereby allowing outlets to pick favorites in elections and promote them without any limits or disclosure requirements like political action committees. But Goodman cited several examples where the FEC has considered regulating conservative media, including Sean Hannity's radio show and Citizens United's movie division. Those efforts to lift the media exemption died in split votes at the politically evenly divided board, often with Democrats seeking regulation. Liberals over the years have also pushed for a change in the Federal Communications Commission's "fairness doctrine" to cut of conservative voices, and retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has delighted Democrats recently with a proposed Constitutional amendment that some say could force the media to stop endorsing candidates or promoting issues. “The picking and choosing has started to occur,” said Goodman. “There are some in this building that think we can actually regulate” media, added Goodman, a Republican whose chairmanship lasts through December. And if that occurs, he said, “then I am concerned about disparate treatment of conservative media.” He added, “Truth be told, I want conservative media to have the same exemption as all other media.” FEC chair warns that conservative media like Drudge Report and Sean Hannity face regulation like PACs VIDEO BELOW http://washingtonexaminer.com/fec-chair-warns-conservative-media-drudge-hannity-faceregulation-like-pacs/article/2548163
INFOWARS.COM BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND