Big Cable: Net neutrality violates ISP 1st Amendment rights. Speaking before the Media Institute in Virginia on Tuesday, the leading voice of the cable industry challenged the idea that net neutrality regulations enhance free speech.
Quite the contrary, warned Kyle McSlarrow, CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, "the First Amendment is framed as a shield for citizens, not a sword for government. " True enough, the First Amendment "promotes democratic values," McSlarrow added, "but it does so best by freeing citizens from government regulation of their speech, not by regulating it. " The NCTA's boss was responding to the Federal Communications Commission's proposed new Internet non-discrimination rules, which would put the kibosh on ISPs unnecessarily blocking or interfering with applications, and require them to be transparent about their network management practices. Advocates of net neutrality are "standing the First Amendment on its head," McSlarrow declared, when they invoke the amendment on behalf of this cause. Network neutrality: A tangled web.
Verizon sues FCC, says "net neutrality lite" rules illegal. Verizon dropped a bomb on the FCC's net neutrality plans today, asking a federal appeals court to "vacate, enjoin, and set aside" the signature accomplishment of FCC Chair Julius Genachowski.
The company loves the open Internet, it says, just so long as no one can, well, enforce that openness. Verizon's deputy general counsel said in a statement today that "Verizon has long been committed to preserving an open Internet and meeting the needs of our customers... [But] we are deeply concerned by the FCC's assertion of broad authority for sweeping new regulation of broadband networks and the Internet itself. We believe this assertion of authority goes well beyond any authority provided by Congress, and creates uncertainty for the communications industry, innovators, investors and consumers.
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