Refusing to show their faces wasn’t enough to protect Comcast at Thursday’s FCC hearing at Stanford University, where attendees called for the corporation’s head and implored the FCC to protect network neutrality.

People have been incensed by Comcast’s practice of blocking and discriminating online, so it was no surprise that more than 600 people showed up at Dinkelspiel Auditorium to discuss the future of the Internet. All five FCC commissioners were on hand to listen to expert witnesses and members of the public.

Here are their opening statements:

• Copps statement
• Adelstein statement
• Tate statement
• McDowell statement

Not one person on the expert panels, made up of scholars, network engineers, lawyers, and consumer advocates, defended Comcast’s misdeeds. While some speakers believed that Internet providers should be allowed to “manage” Web traffic, the vast majority opposed any blocking of consumer choice or legal content because it could crush innovation, competition and free speech.

A few highlights:

• Ben Scott Statement: “This hearing is a pivotal moment in the short history of Internet policymaking.”
• Robert Topolski Statement: Part One, Part Two.
• Harold Feld Statement: “There is a time to speak, and a time to keep silent. With respect, the time has come for the FCC to speak.”
• Barbara Van Schewick Statement: “Disclosure alone is not enough.”
• Jason Devitt, CEO Skydeck Statement: “If this were a Dickens novel, then I would be the Ghost of Internet Future.”

Hundreds of people also turned out to make their voices heard. It was a diverse crowd that came to talk about the importance of an open Internet. People from all walks of life, political affiliations and industries called on the FCC to protect free speech, civil rights, journalism, small business, educational opportunity and more.

In the two hours of public testimony, every single comment supported Net Neutrality and an open Internet. And every comment made it clear that the time for the FCC to act is now.

George Cammarota, an electrical engineer from San Jose, spoke to the panel about the need to safeguard democracy. “If any entity for its own private interest is allowed to limit or otherwise interfere with the free flow of information based solely on the source, destination or content of that information,” he said, “then our freedom of speech is violated and our democracy is placed in extreme jeopardy.”

L. Peter Deutsch, a self-employed composer, retaliated against Comcast’s ploy to write its own “bill of rights.”

“Comcast actions to date have shown that they can’t be trusted to ‘self regulate,’ ” Deutsch said. “Allowing the big carriers rather than consumers and public interest advocates, to take the lead in codifying a ‘bill of rights’ for Internet users would be like letting King George’s cabinet take the lead in writing the U.S. Constitution.”

Video of the public testimony, and the rest of the hearing, is available here: http://www.vontv.net/events/080417. For a taste of some of the video recorded testimony, see ColorOfChange.org’s video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ymCR3DDizw.

You can also listen to the audio archive at the FCC Web site: http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.-->