The Federal Communications Commission has released decisions and announcements about broadband Internet, including a new public hearing on network management practices and new rules for telecommunications services in apartment buildings.
One of the commissioners attempted to ease the Motion Picture Association of America's concerns about the impact of network-neutrality regulations.
At the Internet Video Policy Symposium this week, Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said the network-neutrality proposals under FCC consideration include "exemptions for illegal activities."
According to Paul Sweeting of Content Agenda, Adelstein said the commission will be "very careful about the use of the Internet for illegal purposes, and that includes the illegal downloading of copyrighted works, which is a very serious problem."
"The problem is, how can you ever tell what's illegal?" Adelstein asked at the symposium.
The Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America have filed early and often in the FCC's proceeding on the issue.
"[Internet service providers] must be able to use network management techniques to address the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content taking place over their networks, for the benefit of legitimate consumers and subscribers," the Motion Picture Association of America said in February.
The movie studio lobby filed the comment more than a week before taking a stand against network neutrality at the Showest convention in Las Vegas. At the convention, Dan Glickman, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, said government regulation of the Internet "would impair the ability of broadband providers to address the serious and rampant piracy problems occurring over their networks today."
Jean Prewitt, CEO of the Independent Film and Television Alliance, forwarded a statement to the FCC's network neutrality docket on March 14, saying the group was "astounded to read" that the Motion Picture Association of America had come out against network neutrality.
Describing the Internet as the only truly open opportunity for independent filmmakers, Prewitt said the Internet's openness is being "threatened by the power of a small number of broadband providers to discriminate unilaterally against some categories of users or types of traffic or to accord preferential treatment to certain content providers over others, all under the ambiguous claim of 'network management.'"
The issue, Pruitt said, "is not whether government should regulate the Internet, but whether there will be effective oversight to prevent a handful of corporate giants from imposing their own version of private regulation to the public's detriment."
Pruitt called Comcast's recent behavior an excuse for "private vigilantism to the detriment of legitimate users and innovative service providers."
After banning exclusive deals for cable or satellite video services in apartment buildings in November 2007, the FCC extended that policy to telecommunications services on Wednesday.
"Exclusive contracts have blocked access by consumers to competitive and popular triple-play offerings of voice, video and broadband," the FCC said. "Opening the door to competitive telecommunications services will help provide consumers with increased access to and choice of such providers."
The move gives multiple-unit tenants the same options as homeowners, though the FCC's announcement does not say when the new rules will take effect.
"Today's order provides regulatory parity between telecommunications and video service providers in the increasingly competitive market for bundled services," the FCC order states.
