NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] FCC: For God's Sake Don't Mention "Net Neutrality" in the Broadband Plan!
FCC: For God's Sake Don't Mention "Net Neutrality" in the Broadband Plan!
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000690.html
Greetings. The newly released FCC Broadband Plan contains a great
deal of discussion in its more than 360 pages ( http://bit.ly/c7zfRj ).
There will be a lot to say about the specific provisions and
recommendations of the Plan.
But it's something missing from the Plan that is a real
eyebrow-raiser.
As far as I can determine, nowhere in the entire text of the Plan will
you find the terms "Net Neutrality" or "Network Neutrality" -- a
rather stunning development.
To be specific, the word "neutrality" apparently appears only once in
the Plan, as in "budget neutrality." The word "neutral" appears a
number of times, but none of these relate directly to the usual
universe of Net Neutrality discussions as commonly understood, as far
as I can tell. The "closest" usages I located are discussions of
"neutral rights of way" (relating to broadband construction), remarks
regarding a "neutral host facility" associated with public safety
networks, and the term "network-neutral" specifically related to
proposed set-top boxes (i.e., physical boxes that could connect to
different networks).
If the Plan ever uses the terms "neutral" or "neutrality" in manners
that most observers would consider to be related to common Net
Neutrality discussions, especially associated with ISP operational
issues, I didn't see such instances. Please let me know if you can
find them!
Now, one might argue that the term Net Neutrality has over time come
to encompass an ever widening range of specific issues, and the FCC
has increasingly been favoring the use of terms such as "open,"
"transparent," and "nondiscriminatory" in preference to "neutrality"
in their statements.
But the Commission itself has discussed the need to operate networks
in a "neutral" manner. "Network [or Net] Neutrality" is the common
term used to refer to the associated issues in public discourse,
analysis, news stories, legislation, position papers, speeches, and in
virtually all other contexts.
Net Neutrality is by far one of the most common search terms used by
persons concerned about broadband policy issues.
Even if the FCC preferred not to use the "Net Neutrality" terminology
in a descriptive sense in the Plan, it seems remarkable that they
chose not to at least note the popular usage of these terms by
consumers, media, legislators, and the like, and to explain (for the
sake of searchers using the terms if nothing else) why the Commission
preferred not to use such terminology in their own detailed
discussions and recommendations.
I find it difficult to imagine how the terms Network Neutrality or Net
Neutrality could possibly be missing from as important and
encompassing a document as the FCC's Broadband Plan by happenstance.
It seems far more likely that a specific decision was made beforehand
to avoid the use of these terms in any way (or that they were purged
from drafts during the editorial process).
To be clear, I'm not suggesting any conspiracy or Orwellian attempt at
Newspeak. But I do believe that the FCC Broadband Plan has done a
disservice to the public by not at least acknowledging the existence
of terminology used by the entire world -- including the U.S. Congress
and Barack Obama -- to commonly reference these related issues.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein