New York City Council Committee On Technology in Government

New York City Council
Committee on
Technology in Government
Council Member Gale A. Brewer, Chair
Oversight: Establishing Strong Network Neutrality
Principles in Order
to Protect the Internet
and Proposed Res. No. 712-A
November 20, 2009

Background
The Internet was created to be an open
network that gives consumers choices over
Internet activities.
It was designed as an end-to-end network,
that passes information between the end
users, without interference from the network
provider.
Internet Protocol also emerged with the
design of the Internet as a way to separate
the network providers from the services that
run on the network.
Background cont.
Almost forty years ago, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) decided that
companies providing communications services
could not interfere with or discriminate against
information services.
In 2002 the FCC tried to take away these
nondiscrimination protections and the decision
eventually ended up in the Supreme Court in
2005 in the case of NCTA v. Brand X.
After the Court ruled in favor of the FCC, giving
them the authority to make decisions and rules for
broadband Internet lines, the commission leveled
the playing field for telephone and cable
companies by deregulating Internet services.
Network Neutrality
Network neutrality has been defined as “the
principle that Internet users should be able to
access any web content they choose and use
any applications they choose, without
restrictions or limitations imposed by their
Internet service provider.”
Recently, companies that provide Internet
access have been considering turning away
from this “network neutrality” rule and
embracing a tiered-access approach, where
web sites that pay extra to providers would
load faster than others.
Network Neutrality cont.
Telecom executives believe that a new payment
program would help the companies invest in
more bandwidth in order to improve download
speeds for customers.
Opponents to the tiered approach believe that
the payment plan would hurt competition by
discriminating against those smaller companies
who cannot compete with the bigger firms.
Discrimination would also hurt innovation which
is considered to be key to the Internet.
Federal Activity
In 2005, the FCC adopted a policy statement
that outlined four principles to preserve and
promote the open and interconnected nature
of the Internet but they do not carry any
enforcement power.
In October 2009, the FCC voted to move
forward with the process of codifying rules by
seeking public input on six proposed
principles that apply to all platforms for
broadband Internet access, including
wireless networks.
Federal Activity cont.
In July 2009, Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and
Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) introduced the “Internet
Freedom Preservation Act of 2009” (H.R. 3458).
The Act seeks to set policies regarding the Internet,
and mandates that Internet access service
providers “not provide or sell to any content,
application, or service provider any offering that
prioritizes traffic over that of other such providers”
In October 2009, Senator McCain (R-AZ).
introduced the “Internet Freedom Act of 2009” (S.
1836) which blocks the FCC from proposing,
promulgating, or issuing any regulations regarding
the Internet.
Proposed Res. No. 712-A
Proposed Resolution No. 712-A argues that network
neutrality promotes competition and innovation among
Internet service and content providers.
The resolution advocates that Congress pass H.R. 3458
and that the FCC create enforceable protections for
network neutrality in order to ensure that the Internet will
continue to foster innovation, increase competition, and
spur economic growth.
This resolution differs from the original Resolution by
removing references to outdated Congressional bills
and adding references to H.R. 3458 and S. 1836, which
are before the current Congress, while also including
the current actions by the FCC.
Wireless Internet Access
SSID: NYCC-CH1 or NYCC-CH2
Code: 718-646-2120
Please send questions to

@nycctechcomm on Twitter or
email [email protected]
Use the tags
#netneutrality or #reso712A

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New York City Council

November 20, 2009

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