WASHINGTON - October 12 - On Tuesday, Free Press filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission as part of the agency’s long-running open Internet proceeding.

Free Press Policy Counsel Aparna Sridhar made the following statement:

“The basic answers in the open Internet debate have not changed, and the FCC now has more than enough information to move forward to preserve Net Neutrality. Efforts in Congress are stalled, and leaders in both the House and Senate have already called on the FCC to reassert its authority over broadband and protect Internet users. The longer the FCC delays action on Net Neutrality, the longer the public will be left unprotected.

“There is only one Internet, regardless of how you choose to access it. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski himself has recognized that although wireless and wireline connections may have different technical characteristics, they are different roads to the same place, and that we must preserve the openness of the Internet as a whole. The FCC should not cave to pressure from wireless service providers and carve up the Internet, leaving Americans to choose between an open wired network and a closed wireless one.

“We also echo the concerns the chairman expressed last fall that so-called ‘specialized services’ not be allowed to supplant the free and open Internet. The FCC cannot allow this hypothetical category of services to be used as a loophole to undermine open Internet protections. Phone and cable companies shouldn’t be allowed to write their own rules and build a two-tiered Internet with fast and slow lanes.

“The FCC must act now to make clear, meaningful open Internet rules, and re-establishing the agency’s authority over broadband is a necessary first step. FCC action to protect the open Internet, consumer choice and free speech online is long overdue.”

Link to Free Press comments: http://www.freepress.net/files/FP_Comments_wireless_and_managed_services_10_12_2010.pdf