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FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY URGES 'NETWORK NEUTRALITY' PROVISIONS
[SOURCE: Congress Daily, AUTHOR: Bill Swindell and Bara Vaida]
Some financial services firms are expressing concern that they could be charged more for offering online banking and brokerage services under House telecommunications legislation without strong "network neutrality" provisions but have yet to mount a large-scale lobbying effort. These firms worry that phone and cable broadband providers could charge them more for offering such popular services under legislation sponsored by House Commerce Chairman Joe Barton that would let providers favor online traffic of their choosing and charge fees for faster service to certain Web sites. Consumer groups are urging that the bill be amended to require that broadband providers give equal access to online sites, a concept known as network neutrality. John Hildreth, a lobbyist for the Credit Union National Association, said that without network neutrality, his members could potentially pay local broadband providers more money to obtain and maintain connections for online banking accounts. "That would result in higher costs to credit unions and their members," Hildreth said. A House GOP aide noted that some financial services groups were lobbying the Financial Services Committee to get involved in the issue before the vote. Some of the firms were concerned that broadband providers would charge them premium fees for online stock trades.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-QGSC1149712582276.html
Financial Services Industry Urges 'Network Neutrality' Provisions
NEUTRALITY CHECK
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Charles Giancarlo, Cisco Systems]
[Commentary] When the public Internet was created, its guiding principle was that everyone would be free to use it in a way that was privately beneficial without being publicly detrimental. That principle fostered the birth of thousands of companies, products, services and creative activities that together built the Internet to become the indispensable infrastructure that exists today -- and the ultimate beneficiaries are consumers. However, many of the companies that were helped by the light government regulation of the early Internet are now advocating more regulation in a debate turning on "Net neutrality." The outcome of this debate could change the relationship between consumers and the technology that connects them to information and services. At issue is whether broadband access providers will be able to effectively manage their networks and have the incentives to invest in next-generation networks. Is regulation needed to accomplish "Net neutrality"? The prudent policy at this point would be not to regulate. First, the Internet is still in its adolescence, and it is undergoing rapid change. Regulation would lock in rules and practices that might seem correct today, but could create havoc tomorrow. Instead, we should allow the massive convergence to Internet technology to continue unabated, and regulators should address specific problems on a case-by-case basis. The FCC has already endorsed "connectivity principles" that clearly spell out that consumers should be able to access their choice of safe, legal content and applications within the bandwidth limits and quality of service of their service plan. The House's Energy and Commerce Committee recognized this approach by rejecting proposals to regulate network technology and management tools in a way that would have reduced innovation, choices and new services. Congress must protect freedom and openness on the Internet, while promoting responsibility and fairness among its users, and the ability of providers to compete on technology and services. Quick, reactionary and heavy-handed regulation could snuff out incentive and creativity. With forbearance and wise policies, we can actually ensure that innovation and growth continue and that consumers win.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114973113198074497.html?mod=todays_us_op...
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114973113198074497.html?mod=todays_us_opinion
NTIA SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON CREATION OF SPECTRUM SHARING INNOVATION TEST-BED
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
The Commerce Department called for public comment on a proposed spectrum sharing test bed to explore innovative ways to make more intensive use of the nation’s airwaves and promote continued economic growth and national security. The test bed proposal, a key recommendation of President Bush’s Spectrum Policy Initiative, would enable federal and non-federal users of spectrum to test ideas on new ways to share the finite radio spectrum. The department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, in a notice to be published in the Federal Register, will invite parties to file comments on issues related to establishing the Spectrum Sharing Innovation test bed. These issues include identification of technologies and services; establishment of processes, principles and guidelines; identification of candidate frequency band (s); and activation, termination and evaluation of the test bed. The Federal Communications Commission also is soliciting public comment on issues related to the test bed through a separate public notice. As part of the test bed, NTIA and the FCC will each identify approximately 10 MHz of spectrum. The Test-Bed will build on the successful sharing arrangements between federal and non-federal users at 5GHz and in the 70, 80, and 90 GHz bands and will drive future innovation and the expansion of sharing to benefit government and commercial users. Two years after establishment of the test bed, NTIA and the FCC will develop reports outlining the results and suggesting appropriate procedures for expanding the test bed as appropriate.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/2006/specshare_060706.htm
Comments Sought on Spectrum Sharing
2 CHARGED IN SCHEME SAID TO DEFRAUD INTERNET PHONE PROVIDERS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ken Belson & Tom Zeller]
Federal authorities yesterday arrested a Miami man who they said made more than $1 million in a hacking scheme involving the resale of Internet telephone service. The suspect is accused of surreptitiously routing calls through the lines of legitimate Internet phone companies, saddling them with the expense of carrying the traffic while he pocketed the connection fees from customers. A second man was arrested in Washington State, and charged with aiding in the scheme. The case, representing an elaborate new form of Internet hacking, raises fresh questions about the security of phone traffic over largely unregulated networks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/technology/08voice.html
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* Arrests Reveal Vulnerability Of Web Phone Service to Fraud
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114971242327274079.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
* Who's Watching Internet-Phone Services?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114972853482574428.html?mod=todays_us_pe...
2 Charged in Scheme Said to Defraud Internet Phone Providers
FCC POSTPONES VOTE TO RELAX MEDIA OWNERSHIP REGULATION
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Doug Halonen]
In order to allow newly-seated FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell some time to review the matter, a Commission vote on proceedings to consider relaxing media ownership regulations has been postponed from June 15 to June 21.
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10146
(requires free registration)
* House Media Caucus Weighs In
Calling the FCC's remanded ownership rules an "unmitigated disaster," sixteen members of the Future of American Media Caucus in the House have written FCC Chairman Kevin Martin asking him not to deregulate along the lines of those rules. Led by Rep Maurice Hinchey of New York, the 15 Democrats and Bernie Sanders (an independent), said that the FCC should strengthen the rules to protect diversity.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341852?display=Breaking+News
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=10146
If U.S. cable companies are going to be required to carry extra channels from broadcasters, the mandate should come from Congress not regulators, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said on Wednesday. The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to vote, possibly next week, on a plan that would require cable operators to carry extra channels that television broadcasters are launching. With the advent of digital broadcasting, television stations have the capability of offering additional channels, known as multicasting. Under current regulations, a broadcaster can force cable to carry its primary signal. The cable industry has fought broadcasters' efforts to have the FCC require the extra channels be carried, and is expected to challenge any such plan in court. The FCC, under former Chairman Michael Powell, last year rejected must-carry for multicast channels. But agency officials and industry sources said new FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has circulated a proposal reversing course. Democratic Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have said they wanted to address public interest obligations of local television stations first before voting on multicasting. They worry that additional digital channels in multicasting may not include local content.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID...
* Chairman Stevens Addresses NCTA Key Contacts Breakfast
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Det...
* Barton, Upton Oppose Multicast Must-Carry
Calling it a regulatory fiat that would "usurp Congressional authority," the chairmen of the House Commerce Committee and House Telecommunications Subcommittee are allied with Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in their opposition to FCC Chairman Martin's effort to secure multicast must-carry for broadcasters.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341936?display=Breaking+News
* Multicast Must-carry Is Congress' Call, Says Stevens
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341631?display=Breaking+News
* Stevens to FCC: We'll Handle Multicast
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6341648.html?display=Breaking+News
* Barton, Upton to Martin: No Multicast Mandates
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6341943.html?display=Breaking+News
* Congress Bigs Rap FCC Chair On Multicast
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10026...
* Senator Snowe Backs Martin on Must-Carry
Sen Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) wrote to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on June 5 she strongly supports requiring cable to carry all of a broadcasters' multicast, must-carry channels, not just a single replication of their primary signal, as the FCC has previously concluded.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341784?display=Breaking+News
Stevens Prefers Congress Act on TV Multicasting; Barton, Upton Agree
'NET NEUTRALITY' SEEMS LIKELY TO GET HOUSE FLOOR VOTE
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Susan Davis and Drew Clark]
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) indicated that so-called network neutrality amendments to the pending telecommunications overhaul bill -- amendments authored by Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee ranking member Edward Markey (D-MA) -- likely will be allowed a floor vote when the bill comes to the floor later this week. "Yes, a piece of that will get a vote," Speaker Hastert told reporters when asked about network neutrality language written by Rep Sensenbrenner that is at odds with telecom legislation approved by the House Commerce Committee. When pressed on the Sensenbrenner and Markey amendments -- each of which is intended to prohibit the Bell telecommunications companies and cable TV companies from charging businesses to allow speedier Internet delivery to preferred customers -- Rep Hastert replied, "One of those amendments will be on the floor, if not both of them." House Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), who has engaged in a turf war with Chairman Sensenbrenner over the telecom overhaul legislation, clearly was not pleased with the prospect of allowing floor votes on the net neutrality amendments -- and remained hopeful they would be blocked in the House Rules Committee, which sets the guidelines for floor debates. "We are in discussions with the leadership and the stakeholders on what amendments, if any, will be made in order, but I think it's safe to say that the Sensenbrenner-Markey forces have gotten a black eye every time they've tried to bring their ideas up," Rep Barton declared -- referring to the defeat of the Markey amendment when it was brought before the Commerce panel in late April.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-VOCF1149712117408.html
* House plans Vote on Net Neutrality
http://news.com.com/House+plans+vote+on+Net+neutrality/2100-1028_3-60809...
* Diverse groups urge Rules Committee to permit net neutrality amendment
Expressing the views of more than 1 million Americans, 35 groups, including Common Cause, Free Press, Consumers Union, the American Library Association and the Christian Coalition, formally asked the House Rules Committee to permit House members to vote on amendments to preserve a free and open Internet.
http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=810...{706FAD88-D8D6-4F4C-9F91-4321373309C7}¬oc=1
http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=686...
'Net Neutrality' Seems Likely To Get House Floor Vote
SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE TO REVISIT NET NEUTRALITY PROPOSAL
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
Net neutrality provisions criticized by Internet companies in a sweeping Senate proposal could be getting a makeover. Senate Commerce Committee Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said Wednesday that he plans to release a revised version of his committee's broad communications bill because "many members do not believe that the (Net neutrality) provision in the existing bill goes far enough." Addressing about 300 cable industry representatives at the start of a summit organized by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, Sen Stevens said he is still working with one major critic -- Sen. Daniel Inouye, the committee's top Democrat -- on new language that should be available later this week. A hearing on the revised version is scheduled for June 13. Sen Stevens said Wednesday that he still has reservations about issuing sweeping regulations "before Congress really knows what the problem is." He said the revision would be focused on "protecting the needs and rights of consumers, preserving network management and stimulating commercial interaction between companies" but was unable to supply additional details. The senator told reporters after his speech that he didn't plan to give the FCC the power to make new rules on the subject, though the Commission would be given the power to take enforcement action related to consumer complaints. If that's the case, the revised Senate bill could end up taking a similar approach to its House of Representatives counterpart, which authorizes the FCC to police violations of its broadband use principles and levy fines if appropriate but bars the regulators from making new rules. That technique has earned deep disapproval from Net neutrality fans, who say it doesn't do enough to ward off discriminatory tactics by network operators.
http://news.com.com/Senate+panel+to+revisit+Net+neutrality+proposal/2100...
* Chairman Stevens Addresses NCTA Key Contacts Breakfast
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Det...
* Stevens Tells Cable about Possible Telecom Bill Revisions
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341631?display=Breaking+News
Senate Commerce Committee to Revisit Net Neutrality Proposal
HOUSE COMMITTEE CUTS CPB FUNDING
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies voted to cut $115 million from the federal appropriation for noncommercial broadcasting, a 23% cut in the 2007 appropriation. Included in the cuts is funding for the DTV transition, all the money for the Ready To Learn program as well as the Ready to Teach complementary effort targeted at teachers. The same committee last year proposed cutting $223 million form CPB, including for Ready to Learn and digital transition, but the Senate restored those cuts after protests led by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), among others. Free Press saw the cuts as a threat to diversity of news outlets. "Americans across the political spectrum aren't willing to abandon public broadcasting, or to allow it to turn it into a purely commercial enterprise," said Executive Director Josh Silver. "Congress must restore full funding to public broadcasting or risk losing a source of news and information that Americans say, in poll after poll, is the most trusted in America."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341676?display=Breaking+News
* CPB Responds to House Appropriations Subcommittee's Proposed Funding Levels for Public Broadcasting
"While we appreciate the difficult choices confronting the Appropriations Committee, we are disappointed with the funding levels contained in the current House Labor-HHS bill," said Patricia Harrison, CPB president and CEO. "A twenty-plus percent cut, amounting to 104.5 million dollars, will impact all CPB programs, and undermine public broadcasting's ability to continue to offer essential educational services and provide a backbone for a national emergency alert system. I look forward to making the case to the House and Senate for their full support, appreciation and respect for the inherent value of public broadcasting to our civil society, our children's education, and our nation's security," concluded Harrison.
http://www.cpb.org/pressroom/release.php?prn=551
* Markey: Cheney Gunning for Big Bird
Rep Ed Markey (D-MA) said, "The decision by Republicans to slash $115 million from the budget for public broadcasting is a body blow to a treasured institution," he said. It seems that Dick Cheney and the House GOP have the hunting party out for Big Bird and Clifford the Big Red Dog and the vast majority of Americans won't stand for it."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341919?display=Breaking+News
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341676?display=Breaking%20News
MCCAIN INTRODUCES A LA CARTE BILL
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Cable operators that offer channels on a per-channel or a la carte basis would be exempt from local franchising and pay less in franchise fees to local governments, according to legislation introduced Wednesday by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). The bill would not mandate a la carte, but it would reward cable operators that chose that route by eliminating state and local franchising obligations and by reducing franchise-fee payments from 5% of gross revenue to 3.7%. Sen McCain, in a prepared statement, said he hoped that the ability of cable operators to receive national franchises would spur the sale of channels a la carte, which, he said, consumers are clamoring to receive in lieu of large programming packages that include channels they don't want to buy or consider indecent for children to experience. Consumers Union, while endorsing “the spirit of the legislation,†declined to back McCain, arguing that the bill would go “too far in eliminating important public obligations of video-service providers to ensure nondiscriminatory delivery of cable service, diversity of local programming and essential consumer protections, including the timely and successful resolution of consumer complaints.†Sen McCain’s bill would encourage new cable entrants to build out entire communities, but would not mandate it. However, denial of service based on the income of subscribers would be prohibited. The bill also provides a la carte incentives both for cable operators and broadcasters that own cable networks.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6341831.html?display=Breaking+News
* McCain, Tate Tout Cable Choice
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6341690?display=Breaking+News
* Commissioner Tate's Remarks to the KidVid Summit
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-265839A1.doc
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6341831.html?display=Breaking%20News