We don't need no Internet regulation, say telcos

Doug Mohney — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:04:55 -0500

Kvetching in Washington this week, representatives from the telecommunications industry would like to stave off an anticipated wave of Net Neutrality and Internet regulations under a Democratic Congress and President.

Yea, good luck with that...

Speaking at a telecom law and policy conference hosted by the University of Nebraska College of Law, the telecom counsel for Senator Brian Dorgan (D-North Dakota) said that lawmakers "definitely feel legislation is necessary" for Net Neutrality.

AT&T senior executive VP of external and legislative affairs James Cicconi said that the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) ruling against Comcast proves there's already an effective mechanism to review Net neutrality violations on a case-by-case basis; he also didn't like Comcast's appeal of the decision.

A ruling in Comcast's favor would lead to formal Net neutrality legislation. A common approach/ruling would, said Cicconi, lead to more litigation, not less.

While legislation to promote universal broadband will also appear in the new Congress, there's some dispute if that's needed as well. Former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley - who now represents telecom companies - believes the FCC likely can accomplish much of what an Obama administration might want without new laws.

For more:
- CNET blogs about telecommunications policy potential under Obama.

Google jumps into Bell Canada throttling fray

Jim O'Neill — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:37:47 -0400

Search-engine titan Google is throwing its considerable weight behind opponents of Bell Canada's P2P throttling practices, saying Bell is breaking Canadian telecom law and adding, "The Internet is simply too important to allow them to act as such a gatekeeper." Bell is scheduled to submit a report to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which regulates telecom activity in Canada, on Thursday and says it will respond to Google's involvement in the brouhaha then.

Bell began throttling its own Sympatico Internet subscribers in November, then extended the practice to its wholesale customers in March, saying a small number of peer-to-peer users was threatening to cause slowdowns for its overall customer base.

"Bell claims its throttling of peer-to-peer applications is a reasonable form of network management (but) network management does not include Canadian carriers' blocking or degrading lawful applications that consumers wish to use," the company wrote.

Google's big-name (and potential financial clout) could also be used as throttling issues crop up more in the U.S., adding to fires telcos and cable companies will struggle to put out.

The CRTC expects to rule on the dispute in September.

For more:
- See the CBC News story at CBCNews.ca

Related articles:
ISPs lose first round of battle with Bell ISP report
Bell Canada's DPI raises privacy concerns Bell Canada report
Net neutrality battle shapes up in Canada Net neutrality showdown report
Bell Canada throttling sparks uproar Throttling uproar report
Comcast catches heat for throttling Comcast report

Telecom Law

We don't need no Internet regulation, say telcos

Google jumps into Bell Canada throttling fray