[A2k] Obama pledges Net neutrality laws if elected president

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

 From BNA news:

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9806707-7.html

October 29, 2007 2:29 PM PDT
Obama pledges Net neutrality laws if elected president
Posted by Anne Broache

If elected president, Barack Obama plans
<http://www.youtube.com/v/Vd8qY6myrrE&rel=1> to prioritize, well,
barring broadband providers like AT&T and Comcast from prioritizing
Internet content.

Affixing his signature to federal Net neutrality rules
<http://www.news.com/Net-neutrality-proposal-revived-in-Senate/2100-1028_3-6148751.html>
would be high on the list during his first year in the Oval Office, the
junior senator from Illinois said during an interactive forum Monday
afternoon with the popular contender put on by MTV and MySpace
<http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9806431-7.html> at Coe College in Iowa.

Net neutrality, of course, is the idea that broadband operators
shouldn't be allowed to block or degrade Internet content and
services--or charge content providers an extra fee for speedier delivery
or more favorable placement.

The question, selected through an online video contest, was posed via
video by small-business owner and former AT&T engineer Joe Niederberger,
a member of the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org. He asked Obama:
"Would you make it a priority in your first year of office to reinstate
Net neutrality as the law of the land? And would you pledge to only
appoint FCC commissioners that support open Internet principles like Net
neutrality?"

"The answer is yes," Obama replied. "I am a strong supporter of Net
neutrality."

He went on to explain the issue briefly: "What you've been seeing is
some lobbying that says that the servers and the various portals through
which you're getting information over the Internet should be able to be
gatekeepers and to charge different rates to different Web sites...so
you could get much better quality from the Fox News site and you'd be
getting rotten service from the mom and pop sites," he went on. "And
that I think destroys one of the best things about the Internet--which
is that there is this incredible equality there."

Obama added that companies like Google may not have gotten started
without a "level playing field" and pledged to make sure Net neutrality
"is the principle that my FCC commissioners are applying as we move
forward."

Obama's revelation wasn't exactly jaw-dropping. After all, when debate
over enacting Net neutrality laws was raging in earnest last summer
<http://www.news.com/Republicans-defeat-Net-neutrality-proposal/2100-1028_3-6058223.html>,
he devoted a podcast
<http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/060608-network_neutral/> to touting the
need for regulations and denying the Bells and cable the ability "to
change the internet as we know it." He also signed on as a cosponsor of
legislation proposing Net neutrality regulations for broadband providers.

He's also not the only presidential candidate to voice support for the
rules. On the Democratic side, so have Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.), Hillary
Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), former Democratic
senator John Edwards, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), and Democratic New
Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

Among the Republicans, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has also
reportedly given a thumbs up to the idea, although some opponents of Net
neutrality laws contend he was blindsided in a conference call with
bloggers <http://www.precursorblog.com/node/416> and questioned whether
he was familiar enough with the issue to take a real stand. With only a
few exceptions, however, Republicans have generally rejected proposals
for Net neutrality regulations, arguing the market should be left to
sort out complaints of discrimination and that new regulations will
stifle investment in new broadband networks.

If nothing else, Obama's remarks are noteworthy because they seem to
affirm that Net neutrality is alive and well
<http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9773538-38.html> as a political issue.
His decision to promise "concrete steps," as MoveOn.org called them, at
a public forum could create a ripple effect, eliciting similar pledges
(or opposite ones, as the case may be) from rivals and becoming a
defining issue in the campaign.

Still, I don't know about you, but as polarizing as the proposed
regulations may be, I'm just not sure I can picture Net neutrality
becoming a make-or-break issue akin to healthcare, immigration or the
Iraq War.


--
Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney
judit.rius@keionline.org

Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.: +1.202.332.2670, Ext 18  Fax: +1.202.332.2673