Bells, Cable Join Group to Oppose Net Neutrality Mandates
Bells and cable, which continue fighting over video franchise rules (CD May 2 p1), jointly oppose net neutrality rules which they said would stifle online innovation and competition. NetCompetition.org, unveiled at a press briefing Tues., said members include AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, NCTA, Time Warner Cable and Verizon. It added few new arguments to the debate on whether govt. should bar network operators from being paid to give priority to content.
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The group will serve as a forum for more “substantive” arguments than have dominated the debate, said Precursor Pres. Scott Cleland, whose firm owns the website. “In other forums, cable, wireless and telephone companies are not on the same side” he told us: “The 3 industries are completely united on this issue.” Precursor is being paid by group members, he said.
Internet rivals have already united to back net neutrality. CEOs of firms including eBay and Google wrote Senate Commerce Committee members urging such laws (CD April 27 p11). Opponents of regulation “believe that encouraging competition between many ’smart’ interoperable networks gives consumers the most choices, and is also the best way to enhance the Internet’s security and privacy,” said a Precursor bulletin.
A goal is to ensure Congress doesn’t regulate the Web, an AT&T spokesman told us: “It is a Faustian deal to get Congress involved in regulating the Internet and its commercial business relationships.” An NCTA spokesman said NetCompetition.org offers an “opportunity to develop a consistent industry message about the harms of such regulation and takes advantage of shared resources to disseminate the message more widely.” “Where the marketplace is working, regulation would only serve to stifle innovation…and that’s why we are part of this group,” said a Time Warner Cable spokesman. A Comcast spokesman said the group “for the first time brings together… a broad range of facilities-based competitors that understand the importance of investing in advanced competitive networks and avoiding unnecessary” rules. Net neutrality isn’t about blocking Web traffic, which Qwest won’t do, but letting content providers pay for service tiers “based on the needs of their business,” said a spokesman.
This isn’t the first Internet alliance of odd bedfellows. A gun owners group collaborated with media and consumer activists to support net neutrality provisions (CD April 24 p3). More than 500,000 members have signed a petition supporting net neutrality rules, said Free Press, a member of that group. “The fight for Internet freedom is gaining big momentum,” said Campaign Dir. Timothy Karr in a statement. Companies attacking net neutrality may tarnish their image with consumers, said an advocate of rules. “Our side will win because AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, Comcast, Time Warner [and others] will soon realize that their brands are about to be trashed,” Center for Digital Democracy Exec. Dir. Jeffrey Chester told us: “This new anti open Internet group is just another monopoly-led front.”