Telco Dollars All Powerful in Net Neutrality Debate
Posted under
Network Neutrality
.. an overwhelming majority of American voters favor video choice over onerous “Net Neutrality” regulations...
The sampled voters prefer to leave choice to the consumer, believing in the efficiency of the free market, rather than legislate constraints on the abuse of the market by Telco companies.
Unfortunately, the poll merely shows how easily the Network Neutrality issue is distorted. The first aberrant fact about the poll is that it was funded by Verizon ; a leading interested party against Net Neutrality. The poll does not clarify that Net Neutrality is what currently makes the internet successful, and its loss will have an unpredictable affect on the web.
Upon examining the design of the poll, Valleywag is screaming Telco propaganda push
At the same time, more credible and objective institutions are supporting Network Neutrality. The American Electronics Association (AeA), which represents 2,500 companies from every corner of the high-tech industry, released a report yesterday strongly supporting Net Neutrality and urging Congress:
“Don’t stifle competition and innovation by allowing network operators to change and distort what is currently a highly competitive system.”“The principles of Net Neutrality have created the Internet as we know it — the most dynamic network for communication and commerce in human history,” .
the AeA calls on Congress to “safeguard the competitive nature of the Internet by allowing consumers and content providers to connect with each other in an open marketplace, providing consumers with equal access to all content.”
Allowing the nation’s largest phone and cable companies to tilt the market in favor of larger and better funded content providers would “undermine the fundamental principles of open and free exchange of information across the network,” according to the American Electronics Associationreport on Net Neutrality.
In spite of the vast resources spent by the Telcos in Washington, they are unlikely to have all their own way.
- Net Neutrality Slow to Enter into European Telecom Regulations Debate - Oct 24, 2006
- Net Neutrality Threat Puts Central Internet Hubs Under Pressure - Jul 02, 2006
- Net Neutrality fight continues - Jun 14, 2006
Comments
You have it exactly correct. That poll is part of our industry's vast lobbying efforts. So is this site: www.weownthenet.org
Posted by: Richard Merryweather | September 20, 2006 10:47 PM
Lobbying with such a blatant self-interested commercial agenda, at the expense of the public good, is destroying your future credibility
What ever happened to the old tabacco lobbiests ?
Posted by: Paul Elosegui | September 21, 2006 3:28 PM