[ NNSquad ] Re: "Alliance for Women in Media" opposes FCC's "Third Way"

[Richard Bennett <richard@bennett.com>]

Google is quite strongly in favor of the Third Way according to the official comments they've filed with the FCC on the Third Way NOI; there's never been any doubt about that. Their talks with Verizon started 10 or 11 months ago, long before Genachowski had heard of a Third Way and long before the DC Circuit smacked down the Comcast order.

The reasoning behind the negotiations and the rationale for the proposal was an attempt to find a consensus that all the relevant parties would find acceptable, largely to prevent ongoing court challenges against an order that the FCC might impose unilaterally. The lawyers are fairly certain that the language of the 1996 Telecom Act is quite vague and ambiguous regarding FCC authority over broadband Internet services. This puts the FCC in a position of powerlessness unless there's a consensus against a court challenge.

It's fair to say that there are people at Google in positions of authority who are all over the place on how to regulate Internet services, with one exception: they're all pretty much in favor of leaving search, ad sales, e-mail, map services, and privacy outside the scope of regulation.

It should be noted that until Genachowksi issued his Open Internet NPRM earlier this year, mobile networks weren't on the table in any of the serious broadband regulation debates. It was always assumed that mobile was more competitive than fixed, and there was therefore no need to apply a flat priority rule to it, nor was there any meaningful way to write such a rule for a network that provides voice, data, and SMS at different priority levels and at different prices anyway.

Like it or not, the VG framework is pretty damn close to a consensus position within the networks and network services industries. That's not to say that it couldn't be better, but there's always been an element of religion in this debate. Regulating the Internet is like passing a law legalizing gay marriage: Some stubborn old people will have to expire before a lasting consensus can prevail.

RB

On 8/25/2010 7:44 PM, David P. Reed wrote:

 Jennifer Zeidman Bloch is the Senior Manager of Broadcast Media at Google, and is a "Director" of AWM.

So I guess Google also opposes FCC's "Third Way".   I do note that the Board of Directors is dominated by lawyers and NAB folks (and Ms. Bloch is historically NAB-associated).

What to conclude from this?   Well, the main common denominator is that they are all wealthy, all conservative.

    [ Is it fair to assume that the presence of a Google manager
      as a director at an organization means that Google itself
      necessarily agrees with all positions of that other
      organization?

          -- Lauren Weinstein
             NNSquad Moderator ]

-- 
Richard Bennett
Senior Research Fellow
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Washington, DC