Fawn Johnson
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
September 21, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090921-710905.html
Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski has proposed a new “Open Internet” policy, to which several Republican Senators are against. Mr. Genachowski revealed his open Internet proposal on Monday in a speech at the Brookings Institution. The rules would “prevent Internet companies like Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) or AT&T Inc. (T) from selectively blocking or slowing certain Web content and would require providers to disclose how they manage their networks.“ In an attempt to stop it, “Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, on Monday introduced an amendment to a spending bill currently being debated in the Senate that would bar the FCC from using its federal funds to advance the Internet rules.“ Mr. Genachowski’s plan would also expand open internet to the wirless industry, which has never before faced the same policies as companies “providing cable, fiber, or DSL-type connections.” Among supporters of the amendment are Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev., Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, David Vitter, R-La., Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and John Thune, R-S.D.
In this instance, I am in support of the Republicans. I believe that it is important for companies to retain control of their own policies, and not to allow too many government interventions, which in this case, might eventually cause problems for high bandwidth users. While this proposal is a victory for those supporting the principle of open, unregulated internet access, it also marks the end of the flat-rate internet access. With open internet, the response will most likely be to make consumers pay for what we are actually using, so all those high bandwidth videos and Skype are going to cost us.
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