Overview
The Internet has emerged as a critical new avenue of free expression in our society, truly becoming an “uninhibited marketplace of ideas.” But there is no guarantee it will remain an open and accessible communications and media resource. Deregulation and increasing consolidation in the telecommunications and broadband markets are threatening the Internet’s open and neutral nature and exacerbating the digital divide between those with access and those without.
Network Neutrality and the Comcast/BitTorrent Case
MAP has pressed for “network neutrality” policies for many years, urging the FCC to ensure that network operators do not block or slow down the transmission of certain types of online content just to achieve some financial or other benefit. Until 2007, MAP’s fights have involved mostly theoretical interpretations of what net neutrality really means.
That year, however, Comcast was caught red-handed to be directly manipulating or blocking its subscribers’ access to BitTorrent, a file sharing program. Together with Free Press and Public Knowledge, MAP filed a petition pressing the FCC to establish that blocking peer-to-peer communications like BitTorrent violates the agency’s “Internet Policy Statement” — four principles issued in 2005 that are supposed to guarantee consumers competition among providers and access to all content, applications, and services. In response to the strong legal pressure, the FCC made a decision to forbid Comcast from continuing these activities. Comcast has appealed, and MAP has joined as an intervenor to that case to protect this important victory.
Behind the technical and legal jargon of this case lies the fundamental definition of what is reasonable management of information on the Internet, our new and increasingly dominant communication technology. For broadband services to remain open to innovation and permit the widest public access, the federal government must implement rules to ensure that companies who control broadband networks avoid unfair, secretive, or opportunistic manipulation of online content. Precedent from the Comcast/BitTorrent case and future MAP legal cases involving specific forms of network management will determine a network operator’s ability to prioritize or interfere with traffic over broadband applications.
Development of Nationwide Broadband Infrastructure
MAP is closely involved in the federal government’s distribution of $7.2 billion allotted for broadband development by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Beyond providing strategic planning assistance, MAP advocates that stimulus funds be disbursed in accordance with core First Amendment principles of nondiscrimination and interconnection, to ensure that all citizens can freely and openly communicate across broadband platforms.