Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiFCC Commissioner's Scare Tactics Reach New Low
Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell increasingly sounds like a man stranded on a desert island, willing to say anything to get a ride back to shore.
Yesterday, Commissioner McDowell stooped to a new low in a talk with bloggers at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. He was invited to discuss the FCC's recent decision to punish Comcast for blocking users from sharing legal content on the Internet.
Comcast was caught red-handed secretly discriminating against innovative technologies used for high-definition online TV, using the same censorship technology the Chinese government uses to block free speech. This discriminatory behavior represents a blatant and outrageous violation of free speech.
Based on this clear-cut case against Comcast, a bipartisan majority of the FCC issued a guilty verdict. Commissioner McDowell, however, dissented, using almost every inaccurate argument made by Comcast to defend his decision.
Yesterday, the increasingly isolated McDowell decided once again to put the facts aside.
Law and Order
In both his speech and the interview that followed McDowell tried to tie the FCC's Comcast decision to the Fairness Doctrine (which at one time regulated equal airtime for diverse perspectives in broadcast media).
He suggested that any FCC decision that supports Net Neutrality -- the idea that the Internet must be free and open -- is somehow tantamount to government regulation of content.
But contrary to these misleading assertions, Net Neutrality has nothing to do with empowering the FCC to regulate content. Net Neutrality is the First Amendment of the Internet, and has been part of the Net since its inception. It says that no one -- government agency or corporate giant -- should be able to tell consumers what legal content they can access and share online.
It is absurd to equate Net Neutrality -- a principle that promotes and protects free speech on the Internet -- with any effort to regulate speech.
In reality, the FCC's decision is not about regulation; it's about law and order. If someone is caught red-handed committing a crime, their punishment is not regulation. It's justice. Comcast was caught illegally blocking free speech and the free market on the Internet and now they are being punished for their crime. Punished not with a fine, but with a reasonable request. The FCC simply told Comcast to stop.
The Grass is Always Bluer
Unsurprisingly, this dishonest effort to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt comes precisely at a time when bipartisan support for this important protection is growing.
Americans of all political stripes are tired of politicians saying the grass is blue and the sky is green. McDowell's blatant attempt to portray Net Neutrality as the exact opposite of what it is may go over well at industry-funded think tanks and in meetings with Comcast lobbyists, but everyday conservatives, liberals and independents can see through this fear mongering.
The bloggers over at TechRepublican said it best: "Without meaningful competition, consumers can't push for better service. I can get my high-speed Internet from Comcast, with all its attendant issues, or I can use dial-up. The FCC made the right decision [...] mandated content neutrality protects the customer without hurting competition."
It is disappointing that McDowell is responding to the genuine concerns of a nation about our digital future with threats that have no basis in reality. As American people across the political spectrum fight for a robust Internet system that connects all people to a safe, secure, and neutral Internet, the only way McDowell can oppose this movement is by twisting the facts.
Josh Silver is the Executive Director of Free Press. Josh Stearns is Campaign Coordinator at Free Press.
Copyright © 2008 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
10 Comments so far
Show AllNot even going to use html 'cos they'll moderate me again. If you go online and use the Law Library of Congress you'll find it here it is:
http://www.loc.gov/law/find/hearings/pdf/00139125162.pdf
This was when they came up with TAPAC and started erroding our Fourth and First. DoD Technology and [haha]Privacy Advisory Committee. They referred to it as "Data Mining."
This is a Joint hearing subcommittee Administrative Law, subcommittee Constitutional Law and House Committee of the Judiciary. It's pgs 65, 66 I think, Mr. Gorton, Head of National Committee on Terrorist Attacks Upon the US[HUH?]his second oral testimony statement on one of those pgs, although the entire upper area of testimony is Gorton's from the preceding pg, tells us right there, Yup 9/11 could have been prevented if the Murderer's DoD, DoJ, dept within dept within dept, Nazi models of keeping all inside, would have communicated with each other it would and could have been prevented. So, this is the Law Library of Congress not some site, right there with many familiar names. Wexler, Conyers, Nadler, Tammy Baldwin, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Maxine Waters and more. Although the Judiciary were quite concerned about our privacy as US Citizens and they were assured FISA Law would be followed. Sure....
Robert McDowell was a telecom lobbyist before he became a commissioner, and he's still whoring for the same clients. Here's a typical scene from the McDowell household near Vienna, Virginia:
"What did you do at work today, Daddy?"
"I whored for the telecoms when I was supposed to be serving the people of the United States."
The internet is a public utility--plain and simple, just like the electrical grid, the municipal water system, or the phone system.
As such the Internet will function most effectively when everyone has similar access top all available service--just like water, power, or phone systems. McDowell is full of crap and Comcast deserves twice as much punishment as they will ever receive for all their mischief in this regard.
Communications policy is one area where the special interests have something to be afraid of. When you have groups from the National Organization of Woman and Public Citizen all the way over to the NRA and conservative evangelical Christians saying they do not like the concentration of ownership and support net neutrality then you can't even spend, bribe or bully your way out of this one. Ask former FCC Chairman Michael Powell how that works.
Coalitions work. They are forming in other areas too like the anti-war movement and the fight against global warming. It will be a hard fight with many disappointments in between but in the end we will win these fights too.
I am old enough to remember when governmental agencies were expected to do their work without political interference.
Hell, now the Republicans don't have to interfere. The agencies themselves employ only neocon enthusiasts.
One would have to go back to antebellum slavery to find a more unjust US system of government.
Come to think of it, slavery for the working class is the next logical step of the ruling class.
Even if an FDR or a LBJ came into office I'm not sure the damage could be undone.
Anything like democracy is impossible with such a gulf between rich and poor.
more and more our masters' speech reminds one of 1984, literally.
This has always been the consistent Republican representation: any government ruling or policy that inhibits private enterprise from imposing its will upon the public is "government intrusion." The purpose of our Constitution since the founding of the republic has been to serve private interests and obstruct the public, all the while calling itself "democracy."
what have Bush appointee's and reality ever have to do with each other? absolutely nothing.
Once a tool, always a tool.
jj
McDowell and the rest of this government of liars have nothing to fear from the Departmant of Dis-Trustus. The wealth of every nation depends on trust, heckovajob!