Net Neutrality and Wireless Innovation in 2007
In case you missed it in all the action this week, let us point out that the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2007, a.k.a. the Net Neutrality Act, was introduced on Tuesday in the Senate Commerce Committee by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME).
Informationweek reports that it drew “immediate praise from groups that lobbied for the legislation last year.”
JK is one of the co-sponsors of the bill which will be of benefit to small businesses and a group of people we’re not uninterested in – bloggers!
The bill marks the beginning of this year’s debate over network neutrality. It would ensure that broadband service providers do not prioritize some Internet content, applications or services over other content, applications or services.
Some providers have proposed giving priority to content from sources paying higher fees. They have argued that prioritization and tiered pricing would allow them to increase funding for network improvements. Critics have argued that would create disadvantages for individual bloggers, small businesses and regular citizens, whose sites are as easy to access as those run by major corporations.
“The Internet became a robust engine of economic development by enabling anyone with a good idea to connect to consumers and compete on a level playing field,” Dorgan said. “The marketplace picked winners and losers, not some central gatekeeper. That freedom ” the very core of what makes the Internet what it is today ” must be preserved.”
In the House, Representative Edward J. Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, said recently that he would introduce legislation soon and planned to hold hearings.
JK introduced another bill on Tuesday, the Wireless Innovation Act of 2007, which will make broadband available to unconnected communities by exploiting the unused frequencies in the broadcast spectrum known as “white spaces.” Kerry introduced the same bill in the 109th Congress, however it was not acted on by the full Senate.
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The Democratic Daily has a complete description of the bill:
Broadcasting & Cable also took note of the introduction of the WIN act as did the nonpartisan organization, Free Press.In the spirit of the President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal “Rural Electrification” package, which expanded access to electricity for thousands of American families, Kerry’s bill would serve communities large and small, enabling the delivery of broadband that will connect business owners with their customers, students with dynamic new learning resources and first responders with victims in crisis.
“Just as President Roosevelt recognized a responsibility to make electricity available to rural families in his New Deal, and just as President Eisenhower recognized the necessity of a National Highway System that would enable substantial economic growth in the country, it is time for us to make this technology available to the hard-to-reach communities that need it – rural and urban,” Kerry said. “At a time when the U.S. is lagging behind much of the world in broadband penetration – and more than 60% of the country does not subscribe to broadband service primarily because it is either unavailable or unaffordable – this legislation would put this country one step closer to achieving ubiquitous broadband Internet access throughout America.”
“In contrast to Roosevelt’s sweeping changes, this administration has pledged ubiquitous Broadband access by 2007, but has taken few concrete actions to achieve that goal. On the contrary, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seems intent to inexplicably drag its feet on this measure – despite broad bipartisan support in the Congress, as indicated by the Senate Commerce Committee’s unanimous acceptance of a similar measure last year.” Kerry pledged to build bipartisan support for the measure and seek immediate passage.
The WIN Act specifically requires the FCC to permit license-free use of the unassigned broadcast spectrum between 54MHz and 698 MHz within 180 days of enactment. This legislation will enable entrepreneurs to provide affordable, competitive high-speed wireless broadband services in areas that otherwise have no connectivity to broadband Internet.
“This is about harnessing the spirit of American innovation, where we all share in the expansion of the internet’s reach. Our economy, our schools and our families are counting on us to make affordable broadband a reality everywhere.”
Ben Scott, Policy Director for Free Press, issued a statement applauding JK’s leadership and noted:
This bill holds the potential to create universal, affordable broadband access across the United States.
“Greater access to unlicensed spectrum in the low-frequency bands would improve local emergency communications networks, nurture the growth of small business and entrepreneurship, generate competition in the broadband market, and ensure that underserved areas are not left behind as technology advances in the 21st century.
“The expansion of unlicensed spectrum in particular will create a boom in innovative technologies and expand the opportunities for citizens to communicate. The unlicensed spectrum currently available — just 2 percent of the total spectrum that is commercially available — already has spurred entrepreneurship and technological innovation, generating billions of dollars in new business for manufacturers, retailers and providers. This is a critical issue whose time has come.”
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Welcome to the 21st century. Enough with trying to create the Internets. This is democracy—-keep the net free, fair and accessible.
Applause! Applause!
Thank you Senator Kerry.
Exciting news for everyone. Aside from the potential business and technological advances and prospects, this bill would help to build access to a virtual library of information—which is what the Internet is. Much like local libraries of our hometowns, this could provide a greater deal of wealth of information and improve communication, to more rural areas of the country. Furthermore, this measure could increase the spread of ideas and messages throughout the country and the world.
The Internet is everything and we CANNOT even THINK about doing ANYTHING that would halt or stall one step of it’s endless run of advancing our way of living. If we were to even consider doing this, what have we learned? Nothing. Where do we stand? Clearly, in a world of our own, not withing the vast majority of the state of mind which reflects the ever present hunger and need for future, hope and most importantly, present. We we are right now is not only the present, but the future as well, as we continue to develop and experiment with new ways to communicate with each other from different sides of the globe, just by a click. We are moving and we are in a great place which is only going to get greater, and it’s all because of the Internet.
We CANNOT underestimate this imperative technology which has reached the heights of allowing anyone to broadcast themself using such amazing services as YouTube.
Friends and family who have not seen in each other in years, now have the ability to stay in touch and talk regularly thanks to services such as MySpace. How could anyone even think about messing with any of this?
As Jon Stewart once said, the Internet is a keeper. Don’t mess with it.
Thank you, Senator Kerry. You’re the man.
Thanks, Senator Kerry.
The Internet = 21st Century Free Speech. Thank you for helping to guarantee that for the next generation. :)
OT, Sen Kerry is on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer this morning.
I expect the discussion will be Iraq and Bush’s new ‘plan’.
I just saw a person form the State Department on TV say that we’ll find out the success of this surge in a few weeks if Iraq does or doesn’t hold up its part of the surge. Meaning what? This is really distressful. Are our troops sufficiently protected?
The news media is congratulating themselves for being accurate since the President admitted to mistakes in Iraq. But when will they give John Kerry credit for telling the truth about Iraq.
It seems that McCain and Clinton get good press and the rest are not recoginzed. McCain is really annoying because he tries to come off as the only honest politician but he is really stuck in the “blame game“. He is picking up the right wing mantra because he wants their support and blaming the democrats for things going wrong in Iraq. He still saying the ”cut and run” slogan. He is not willing to be truthful to the American people that executive branch leadership failed us in Vietnam, its was not a question of people’s will or the democrats. If he can’t see that he would make the same mistakes in Iraq. He seems to be too concerned about politics and blaming others to think clearly about what is best for our Country in Iraq and for the mid east.
Estimates of deaths from Bush’s surge plan:
http://seesdifferent.wordpress.com/2007/01/13/pentagon-doubling-of-us-casualties-estimated-with-surge
I CANNOT WAIT for the video of John Kerry’s appearance on Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer this morning to be up on the site.
We all see politics differently. I have found that when looking at politics, you CANNOT take popular figures or the “new guy” into context simply for being “the new guy”. Look at who represents you the best and follow that person. Although, you CANNOT be over loyal to a single figure. The decisions a person in power makes affects US ALL, not just you. Support and vote for the person who represents who in the most of ways, and make sure the decisions he or she makes brings upon positive outcomes for the future involving us all.
For me, that person is John Kerry. No one has worked harder to bring resolve to the middle east, ease the burdon of being left behind in a country without universal healthcare and working harder than anyone to secure the state of the Internet as where it stands today, among countless other facotors to be taken into consideration. This guy cares about people. He and Ted Kennedy are the personification of what it is to help people.
Before I get carried away and end up writing about a plate full of issues, I’ll cut it off there and tackle the actual topic of this post.
This morning, Kerry appeared on CNN’s Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer to discuss the situation in the middle east and the recent plan of President Bush’s to escalate the number of troops in Iraq. Kerry’s key point is the very reason we are where we are in Iraq right now.
The issue that cannot be misunderstood is the issue of the entire middle east, not just Iraq. We are living in a time in which many people only see the small picture of our current situation. Iraq will never be stable unless the surrounding countries put forth the effort of commitment and talk with the United States. That says nothing, however, unless we have an administration who is actually willing to sit down and talk with the leaders of the surrounding countries in the middle east. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, ALL of these countries need to meet across the table with the United States, or Iraq will never move forward to a state of peace and stability. That will not exist, unless we take charge and take the initiative of conversation with all of these leaders to map out an agreement to minimize the violence, so we can begin to withdraw our forces and minimize the amount of chaos and death. YOU NEED a dialogue, you need communication, you need conversation. You don’t need to agree or believe everything you hear from any of the people you talk to, but you need a dialogue. It comes right down to sitting down with someone across the table and TALKING with that person about each other’s needs for their country’s interest. If you don’t talk with these people regularly, they will have no choice but to believe you are on the offensive, are stubborn, maybe cooking up some sort of plot to harm them, not knowing anything about what they are doing, so what happens then? More panic, more supposive “threats”, more speculation, more “resolution” proposals, more invasion, death, all because of pure miscommunication because there never WAS any communication! Hence Iran. Do we want this to escalate? Do we want what we have with Iran right now to spread throughout the entire middle east? Do we want even MORE deaths in Iraq, and possibly in other parts of the region? I don’t. Do you?
This is John Kerry’s point, plan and outline.
This what we need. Not stubborness, because in this case, stubborness is just the seed that will evenutally plant the tree of death.
Think it through.
Brandon
Brandon,
Thanks for your post, especially that last line: “Think it through.”
Yes, thinking it through has something that has not been happening nearly enough in this country, either in the current administration, or among many of our fellow citizens the last 2 presidential elections. My hope is that “Think it through” will be an underlying theme of 2008, among both the candidates and the voters. Our problems cannot be solved by photo-op pseudo-presidencies and celebrity journalism. We need a president for real now: the more substance and experience and proven good judgment, the better. . . time for everyone to wake up, grow up, and put a wise, intelligent, experienced adult in the White House. As far as I’m concerned, there is such an obvious choice right there in front of everyone’s faces, and, though he was playing his cards close to the vest in the CNN interview today, I so much hope, for the sake of our country, that he decides to run.
I’m with you guys on that one. As recent history has made only too clear, we-the-sheeple have developed a bad habit of choosing leaders for all the wrong reasons.
Not me, though. The way I see it is this: if I want a friend, I’ll get a dog. If I want a great hairdo, I’ll visit a beauty salon. If I want somebody to drink a beer with, I’ll go bowling.
But if I want a president that I can respect and admire—one that can truly lead us, and guide us through the shoals—then I’ll go with the one who knows how to think it through, every time.
terrific post, Otter. Thanks!