Timeline and overview of Net Neutrality debate

1. TIMELINE AND OVERVIEW
October 27, 2009

2. 1860 20th Century
Pacific Telegraph Act
guarantees “messages
received . . .shall be impartially
transmitted in the
order of their reception”.

3. 1860 20th Century 2002
002
FCC rules cable broadband providers are
information services and do not have to
share their lines with competing ISPs.

4. Supreme Court Brand X FCC Adopts Net
Internet Services ruling Neutrality Principles
upholds FCC 2002 ruling.
MARCH JUNE JULY AUG
2005 2005 2005 2005
FCC Fines Small
Canadian ISP blocked access
ISP for blocking to pro-union website and
access to VOIP other sites during labor
dispute

5. AT&T Chairman
Edward E. Whitacre Jr.
November 2005 :

7. Arguments for Neutrality
• Pro-Competition/Pro-Innovation
• Key to Internet Success
• ISPs want to be be gatekeepers
- stifle competition and innovation
- power to discriminate
.
Website: http://www.savetheinternet.com

8. Advocates
Major Corporate Players: Amazon, earthlink,
eBay, Google, Vonage, Yahoo!
Tech Groups and Thought Leaders: Bill
Moyers, Craig Newmark, Harvard Berkman
Center, Professor Lawrence Lessig, Tech Net
Selected Newspapers: New York Times, San
Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury Press
Unions and Major Associations: AAARP,
American Civil Liberties Union. American Library
Association, Christian Coalition of America.
Common Cause, Consumer Federation of
America, Consumers Union, Environmental
Defense Institute, Feminist Majority, Free Press,
Gun Owners of America, Moveon.org Civic
Action, SEIU
Celebrities: Moby, REM, Alyssa Milano

9. Arguments Against Neutrality
• Internet has succeeded because of absence of
regulation
• Proposal would reduce incentive for investment in
broadband infrastructure and deployment.
– Invitation to litigation
• Broadband network providers need ability to control
access to manage bandwidth needed to assure quality
of their own video and other services
– Video content and VoIP will increase demand for
bandwidth
– Google, eBay and others want to “shift the financial
burden of paying for these upgrades onto the backs
of ordinary consumers.” – Mike McCurry – Co-
Chairman, Hands Off The Internet.
Website – http://handsoff.org

10. Opponents
Major Corporate Players: 3M, AT&T,
Comcast, Time-Warner, Verizon
Tech Groups and Thought
Leaders: NetCompetition.org, Latinos
in Information Sciences and Technology
Selected Newspapers: Wall Street
Journal, Washington Post, Washington
Times
Unions and Major Associations:
Communications Workers of America,
American Conservative Union, National
Association of Manufacturers

11. Net Neutrality Scorecard 2006

12. Capitol Hill &
Home Court Advantage
Internet v. Telecom/Cable
Campaign Contributions 2004-2006
$12,000,000
$10,000,000
$8,000,000
$6,000,000
$4,000,000
$2,000,000
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Note: Industry total represents the combined total of the companies listed and not the industry as a whole.

13. Welcome to the Big Leagues

14. • Discrimination
– Shaw, a big Canadian cable TV company, is
charging an extra $10 a month to subscribers in
order to "enhance" competing Internet telephone
services.
Warning Signs •
– Comcast, Cox block BitTorrent
Censoring
– Time Warner's AOL blocked all emails that
mentioned www.dearaol.com — an advocacy
campaign opposing the company's pay-to-send
e-mail scheme.
– AT&T censors political comments made by Pearl
Jam in concert webcasts
• Anti-Competitive
– Cox Communications has been disrupting access
to Craigslist over its broadband Internet network,
while Bell South has reportedly disrupted access
to MySpace.
• Gate Keeping
– ISPs begin to discuss tiered or metered service.

17. Oct 09: Calling FCC action a
Oct 09: FCC Unanimously “government takeover of the
moves to begin process to Internet” Sen. McCain
formalize Neutrality Principles introduces legislation to block
and Extend to Mobile Platforms FCC from acting

18. Supplemental
Materials

19. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS22444.pdf
http://www.lessig.org/blog/2008/04/testifying_fcc_stanford.html

20. Bennet Kelley
Bennet Kelley founded the Internet Law Center in 2007 after a
decade of activity in many of the hottest internet issues including
behavioral targeting, cyber squatting, net neutrality, privacy, spam
and spyware. Prior to launching the Internet Law Center, Bennet
worked in-house with companies such as ETM Entertainment
Network, SpeedyClick.com, Hi-Speed Media and ValueClick.
Bennet is Co-Chair of the California Bar's Cyberspace Committee
and has played a leading role in shaping Internet law and policy.
Bennet testified before the California Senate Business &
Professions Committee on its landmark 2003 spam legislation and
was praised by the House Energy & Commerce Committee for his
bkelley@internetlawcenter.net contributions to federal spyware legislation. He also launched an
initiative through the Cyberspace Committee to develop a
cyberspace primer for incoming state legislators.
In addition, Bennet has extensive political experience that includes
serving as National Co-Chair of the Democratic National
Committee's Saxophone Club (its young professional fundraising
and outreach arm) during the Clinton era and being an award
winning political columnist for Huffington Post.

21. The Internet Law Center is dedicated to helping
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