Michael Painter
2005-06-29 04:58:54 UTC
http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=80
The Brand X decision is not only absurd on its face, it is an insult to the
American ideals of competitive markets, equal opportunity, and the free flow
of information. This short-sighted decision to eliminate common carrier
requirements on broadband networks essentially grants the incumbent cable
giants the prerogative to stifle all competitive access to their wires. If
the telephone companies receive similar exemptions - as is expected - the
cozy duopoly of cable and DSL that controls more than 95 percent of the
broadband market will be entrenched for a generation. There will be no
competitive broadband carriers. There will be no independent ISPs. The
thriving new market for Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) may be badly
destabilized. The owners of the wires will likely determine what content is
and is not appropriate to travel over their networks.
...The response from the public and its representatives in Congress must be
firm, swift and resolute. The open proceedings at the FCC dealing with
nondiscrimination on wireline networks should become a focal point of
attention for advocates of telecom policy in the public interest. Congress
must seek to reverse the FCC's misguided judgment, re-establishing rules
that protect open access to communications networks. Far from granting the
phone companies the same exemptions, Congress should write an unambiguous
statute guarding communications network from monopoly domination.
The Brand X decision is not only absurd on its face, it is an insult to the
American ideals of competitive markets, equal opportunity, and the free flow
of information. This short-sighted decision to eliminate common carrier
requirements on broadband networks essentially grants the incumbent cable
giants the prerogative to stifle all competitive access to their wires. If
the telephone companies receive similar exemptions - as is expected - the
cozy duopoly of cable and DSL that controls more than 95 percent of the
broadband market will be entrenched for a generation. There will be no
competitive broadband carriers. There will be no independent ISPs. The
thriving new market for Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) may be badly
destabilized. The owners of the wires will likely determine what content is
and is not appropriate to travel over their networks.
...The response from the public and its representatives in Congress must be
firm, swift and resolute. The open proceedings at the FCC dealing with
nondiscrimination on wireline networks should become a focal point of
attention for advocates of telecom policy in the public interest. Congress
must seek to reverse the FCC's misguided judgment, re-establishing rules
that protect open access to communications networks. Far from granting the
phone companies the same exemptions, Congress should write an unambiguous
statute guarding communications network from monopoly domination.