NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: FCC Hearing tomorrow (Monday, 25-02-2008)
At 12:35 PM 2/25/2008, lynn wrote: >Often the aggenda is decided far in advance leaving little or no space for >changes or additions. Perhaps if Brett would have asked earlier (if he >knew earlier) it might have been different. It is unclear how FCC Chairman Martin's staff made the choice of speakers. However, it is important to realize that Mr. Martin has, of late, been very active in promoting the interests of the telephone companies at the expense of the cable industry. Therefore, one would expect that he would bias the hearing and its witnesses against Comcast so as to have an opportunity to regulate Comcast and possibly levy fines on it. Allowing an independent, small ISP -- especially an engineer -- speak at the hearing would have hurt such an agenda. Firstly, it would have prevented speaker after speaker from attacking our industry as if it was a monopoly or duopoly. Secondly, it would have prevented the portrayal of the battle as "David vs. Goliath" -- smaller companies such as Vuze against bigger ones such as Comcast. And thirdly, it would have allowed me as an engineer to demonstrate the impact of P2P on our networks, and also to show how companies such as Vuze use it to shift their own costs to us. In short, it would have spoiled the pecking party. --Brett Glass