[IP] How Washington will shape the Internet
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From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 11, 2006 10:55:04 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] How Washington will shape the Internet
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
How Washington will shape the Internet
The Web was the Wild West — until the sheriff rode into town
By Michael Rogers
Columnist
Special to MSNBC
Updated: 8:21 a.m. PT July 11, 2006
The most potent force shaping the future of the Internet is neither
Mountain View’s Googleplex nor the Microsoft campus in Redmond. It’s
rather a small army of Gucci-shod lobbyists on Washington’s K Street
and the powerful legislators whose favor they curry.
After years of benign neglect, the Federal government is finally
involved in the Internet — big time. And the decisions being made
over the next few months will impact not just the future of the Web,
but that of mass media and consumer electronics as well. Yet it’s
safe to say that far more Americans have heard about flag burning
than the laws that may soon reshape cyberspace.
All of the major changes are encompassed in a single, sprawling bill
that is called a “rewrite” of the 1996 Telecommunications Act but
which in fact breaks all manner of new ground. At present the bill is
out of committee in both houses but it’s not clear whether it will
actually be passed this year; three weeks remain until summer recess
and in September members may be more focused on elections than
electrons. But sooner or later, Congress is going to lay down the
law, and here’s a quick primer on some of the key issues:
Network neutrality: This argument has received by far the most
publicity. It pits network owners such as Verizon and AT&T against
the companies who buy their bandwidth, such as Google and Amazon, and
it hinges on whether the network owners can charge extra to deliver
certain kinds of bits — bill more for streaming video, for example,
than simpler data like text e-mail.
Enormous lobbying forces on both sides have created a highly
emotional battle, involving everyone from Moby to the Christian
Coalition. One side argues that access providers will use pricing to
lock out competitors or even censor certain Web sites. The other side
contends that Federal pricing regulation would permanently cripple
the development of the Internet because network owners won’t be able
to charge enough to upgrade their infrastructure.
[snip]
URL: <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13808101/>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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