Policy Blog Entries by Art Brodsky

Let us give props where props are due. Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn spoke last Friday before the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC). This is a group that on one hand could provide her a sympathetic audience, were it not for the fact that their stance on Net Neutrality has tended to embrace the talking points for the telephone and cable companies.

In comments in the Net Neutrality docket, MMTC and other organizations put forward the industry talking points that an open and non-discriminatory Internet could raise prices for consumers (citing a Bell front group as evidence).

Second Panel —Commentary, Criticism and the New Publishing Paradigm, moderated by David Bollier.

The first speaker is Pat Aufderheide, director of social media at American University’s School of Communications. The purpose of copyright is to promote culture, with “limited” monopoly and provide balance with exemptions to make new culture. Copyright holders created imbalance in copyright. At this point, fair use which was “dinky backwater” is now escape hatch from copyright holders. It’s the most flexible copyright exemption in the world. Best Practices movement is about education. AU has published best practices guides, with filmmakers as first one. Eight weeks after guide, three films went to Sundance and got picked up.

“To boldly go.” There may be no more famous split infinitive than the one used to introduce the voyages of the starship Enterprise through the more than 40-year history of the Star Trek franchise. Whether it was “to boldly go where no man has gone before,” in the original series, or “to boldly go where no one has gone before,” in the Next Generation, the sentiment was clear. Bold is better.

When Barack Obama was campaigning for president, the tech sector was all atwitter (you should pardon the expression) about a campaign and policy staff that seemed to get it. Candidate Obama said all the right things, and now, President Obama has reaffirmed his commitment to an open Internet. There is the vision and the capacity to reach for a greater goal, and we have every right to expect it. The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Net Neutrality rulemaking is one example of a bold stroke, so we know that it can be done.

Trying to figure out who’s naughty and nice this time of year can be difficult. Many people are both, and figuring it all out by the end of the week will be quite the challenge.

Take for example two days last week in the life of Vice President Joe Biden. On Dec. 15, he hosted a meeting for the crème de la crème of Big Media, which by all accounts, like this one and this one brought top government officials together to focus on combating the scourge of “piracy.”

No one likes “piracy,” but this over-the-top meeting put so much of a focus on the issue, and pandered so much so the assembled multitudes that it lacked any credibility whatsoever.

After a couple of years of writing about Connected Nation, there’s not much more to say. They do the bidding of the telephone and cable companies, presenting broadband deployment as those companies wish it to be presented. They hide behind non-disclosure agreements. They have so many caveats to their maps that the products are not useful for serious planning.

And our government just gave them $10 million, give or take. In announcing a batch of broadband mapping grants on Dec. 22, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) turned the shape of the broadband world over to the parties most interested in shaping the outcome.

Any guesses who wrote the script for Vice President Joe Biden’s meeting later today on the threat of “piracy” to intellectual property?

Take a look at the guest list and try to figure out how the meeting came about. Let’s be honest, here. For an Administration, and a President, who believes in an open Internet, this little confab is a great big embarrassment.

We know that Big Media is a source of Big Money for Democrats. We know that Biden, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was favorably disposed to the “creative community,” as many legislators are. Even so, to have three cabinet officers, agency heads, studio heads, Big Media lobbyists representing companies which think fair use is theft and companies which want the Internet Service Providers to spy on you – all in one room?

Even before the state of Colorado released on Dec. 1 the results of a broadband mapping project conducted by a Connected Nation subsidiary, officials were preparing for a second round of mapping. The problem, according to the state Request for Proposals issued in early November, is that the first mapping product done by Connect Colorado “did not satisfy the requirements” of the federal broadband mapping program.

The first mapping project cost $300,000. The telecom industry contributed $60,000 of that total and the state paid for the rest.

Just in time for the holidays, some old and new whines are presenting themselves for our seasonal enjoyment. In New York City, songwriters are still complaining about the Internet as a City Council committee considered endorsing the simple idea of “Net Neutrality.”

In Washington, AT&T’s top lobbyist blew his stack when an Administration official endorsed Net Neutrality in terms the lobbyist didn’t like. Not that there are any terms endorsing Net Neutrality that the lobbyist would like, save those with which he agrees, which are relatively meaningless.

All of this would be mere background noise to the sound of Christmas carols if it weren’t for the pending announcement of Comcast, the country’s largest Internet Service Provider, taking over NBC-Universal, one of the biggest content providers.

It’s hard sometimes to know where to start when trying to figure out which criticism of Net Neutrality is the most misguided. Bullying and threats are always a good standby. The telephone companies have done it for decades as an all-purpose answer to anything they didn’t like. Pass X regulation and we won’t invest. Pass Y rule and we won’t deploy. Pass Z and jobs will be lost. Regulators are to be blamed for lower earnings.

The big media companies have it in their playbook also. If they don’t get another, bigger, badder protection/penalty against “piracy,” then all their wonderful content will be shut down. The penalties have increased steadily for years and they are still complaining and threatening to withhold content or even not create some new masterpiece. 60 Minutes ran a Nov.

It’s one thing to read about the massive lobbying power that industries have. It’s in the news every day. There are stories about how much money the big pharmaceutical companies are spending, and certainly there are tales about the heavy pressure the health insurance lobby is bringing during the current health care debate.

It’s all minor league compared to the telephone industry. Read on and you will get a first-hand look at the power of a real major league lobbying organization. It’s not only the money and influence they generate in Washington, although they certainly do that.. So do many other special interest groups, like big pharma and insurance. The power of the telephone lobby lies in the power and influence they generate outside of Washington.

Telephone company representatives are in every Congressional district. They are in or around most communities.