Ars Technica says that Interim Federal Communications Commission chair Michael Copps has just called for a fifth Internet non-discrimination principle that would be added to the existing four.
He told a Friday morning breakfast audience at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association’s Cable Show in Washington, DC that the time has (almost) come to beef up the FCC’s Internet Policy Statement (PDF).
After his commentary, Copps told press that the agency should wait to act on this matter until its next permanent chair arrives—he most likely being White House nominee Julius Genachowski.
The FCC came up with its first four principles, ironically, after it had set up a relaxed regulatory regime for both cable and telephone company ISPs. In June 2005, the Supreme Court upheld the Commission’s controversial Brand X decision, which classified cable Internet as an “information service”—letting cable ISPs off the hook for various common carrier requirements. Two months later, the FCC extended the same generosity to telcos.
At the same time, the agency declared that ISPs did have a duty to provide their services in a “neutral manner,” and it issued its first four precepts:
- To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice.
- To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.
- To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.
- To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.
The $787 billion stimulus package calls on the FCC to come up with a road map for how billions of dollars in government money should be spent. The FCC has until next February to come up with a plan, and develop a national broadband strategy. The $7.2B included in the stimulus package for broadband is comprised of 2 parts: $4.7B in grants for the NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (“BTOP”), and the Rural Utilities Service which has $2.5B for grants, loans and loan guarantees for broadband infrastructure.
The FCC will hold an Open Meeting on developing a national broadband strategy this Wednesday, April 8, 2009 (pdf).
