The Net @ Risk update
by Rick Karr
Since we're talking about media this week, it seems to be a good time for an update on the fight over “net neutrality."
(If you're not familiar with the term, all you need to know is that this battle is a lot like the one over media ownership that we cover on this week's show: It involves the FCC, and it pits media conglomerates – in this case the cable and telephone giants that 
provide most Americans with Internet service – against the public interest. For a more detailed explanation, check out the web page for the documentary that we broadcast on the subject last year.)
Public-interest advocates say net neutrality is essential to preserving openness, innovation, and free expression online. Cable and telephone conglomerates and their allies argue that net neutrality is a “solution in search of a problem” -- in other words, that they'd never censor or otherwise interfere with online content.
But a few recent incidents have cast doubt on the conglomerates' claims, according to net neutrality advocates.
(Photo: Robin Holland)
In August, phone and Internet giant AT&T offered an exclusive webcast of a Chicago-area concert featuring the band Pearl Jam. When the band played its song “Daughter,” singer Eddie Vedder altered some lyrics to take a swipe at the President, singing, “George Bush, leave this world alone," and "George Bush find yourself another home." But the concert's online audience never heard those lyrics because AT&T cut them from the webcast. A spokesperson for the telecom behemoth said it was a mistake, but later admitted to other, similar “mistakes” in the past.
In September, another phone and Internet giant – Verizon – prohibited abortion-rights group NARAL from sending a mass text message to supporters' cell phones. Verizon quickly reversed the decision, but neutrality advocates called it a chilling sign of the power that telecom firms have over free speech. While the incident involved cell phones, rather than the Internet, neutrality advocates said it showed how Internet firms could – and would – censor online content they don't like.
Finally, just last month, cable and Internet giant Comcast blocked some customers' access to an online network called BitTorrent, which allows users to share music, movies, and TV shows for free – much like the original Napster program that incurred the wrath of the record industry in the late 90s. But neutrality advocates said Comcast's move wasn't merely a strike against online “piracy”: BitTorrent could also become a new (and legitimate) way for TV and movie viewers to see whatever they want, whenever they want – in other words, competition for Comcast's existing cable TV business.
A coalition of pro-neutrality groups has asked the FCC to look into the Comcast incident. Meanwhile, politicians have been speaking up for net neutrality: Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has promised to defend net neutrality
if he's elected, and Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) have renewed their call for a law protecting net neutrality.
We hope to update the story on a future broadcast. Stay tuned.
Comments
Posted by: Janice Pound | November 8, 2007 11:06 AM
Posted by: Michael Couch | November 6, 2007 3:28 PM