Stage Set for Key Senate Hearing on Future of the Internet
June 14th, 2007 by Tim KarrToday’s Senate hearing on the auction of the public airwaves is an important chance for political leaders to stand with the more than a quarter-million Americans who have called for this spectrum to be used to create a better, more open alternative to phone and cable Internet.
The hearing of Senate Commerce Committee members will begin at 10 am EST. You can watch streaming video or listen to streaming audio here.
As so much is at stake in the upcoming auction, the hearing has generated intense interest in the media and blogosphere (Matt Stoller’s recent post at MyDD is recommended reading).
Sen. John Kerry is taking a stand for auction rules “that maximize the likelihood of innovation and ease competitive entry.” Presidential candidate John Edwards has gone one further, urging the FCC to “seize the chance to transform the Internet and the future” by requiring that half of the soon-to-be-available public airwaves be reserved for open access.
Meanwhile, certain members of the Senate Committee have closed ranks with Big Cable, urging the FCC to keep the auction unfettered by conditions so that the nation’s largest communications companies can scoop up licenses and dominate Internet access to the benefit of no one but themselves.
Their plan to horde public airwaves would stifle competitive and cheaper alternatives to their legacy networks. This would be a disaster. After years of phone and cable company control over our Internet marketplace, the United States has fallen to 15th in the world in high-speed Internet rankings, with few choices and some of the highest prices for the slowest speeds in the world.
We will continue to fall as long as we let phone and cable execs dictate Internet access for more than 96 percent of American users.
The FCC and our Senate Commerce Committee members are weighing two options: use the public airwaves for the public good, or turn them over to self-interested corporations like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast who consistently stifle innovation, monopolize markets and gouge consumers.
The choice of where to go from mere seems pretty obvious.
