Car Deals

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to vote Dec. 21 on a plan to limit the ability of Internet service providers and governments from restricting access to the Web.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, a Democrat, described his proposal that is set for the vote in announcement this week.

The two Republican FCC commissioners immediately criticized the plan as imposing too much regulation over the Internet, indicating that reaching net neutrality is unlikely to be completed soon, according to industry analysts.

Net neutrality refers to a policy for preventing censorship by Internet service providers and governments on content, sites, platforms, the kinds of equipment allowed and the means of communication over the Internet.

The policy also would require that any two Internet subscribers could communicate with each other without restriction under terms of their access.

The policy fell into doubt Thursday – a day after Genachowski’s announcement – when the Internet company Amazon shut down the tell-all Web site Wikileaks in response to government pressure.

In recent years, Internet service providers have been criticized for exerting too much control over access to the Internet.

Large Internet companies like Google and Yahoo have escaped most of the criticism.

However, niche companies like Facebook and Twitter have sometimes been accused of being restrictive.

Congress stepped into the debate by ordering the FCC to develop a plan to ensure unbiased access.

Genachowski’s plan calls on the Internet companies to upgrade analytic components of their services in return for being regulated under existing Internet regulations. The analytics can filter out some Internet content.

If the companies fail to upgrade their analytics, they would be regulated under more restrictive rules, similar to telephone companies.

“This framework, if adopted later this month, would advance a set of core goals,” Genachowski said. “It would ensure that the Internet remains a powerful platform for innovation and job creation; it would empower consumers and entrepreneurs; it would protect free expression; it would increase certainty in the marketplace and spur investment both at the edge and in the core of our broadband networks.”

However, his fellow commissioners disagreed.

Ranking Republican commissioner Robert McDowell issued a statement saying, “Pushing a small group of hand-picked industry players toward a ‘choice’ between a bad option (Title I Internet regulation) or a worse option (regulating the Internet like a monopoly phone company under Title II) smacks more of coercion than consensus or compromise.”

He accused Genachowski’s proposal of exceeding his authority.

“This ‘agreement’ has been extracted in defiance of not only the courts, but a large, bipartisan majority of Congress as well,” McDowell said. “Both have admonished the FCC not to reach beyond its statutory powers to regulate Internet access.”

Ironically, political pressure from a member of Congress prompted Amazon to stop allowing Wikileaks to use its servers on Thursday.

Wikileaks is a Web site that publishes government documents leaked to the news media.

Its release this week of more than 251,000 U.S. State Department communications with its embassy staff and heads of state created a huge international incident.

The outrage fell as much on the State Department for some criticisms of foreign governments mentioned in the documents as it did on Wikileaks.

Amazon dropped WikiLeaks following inquiries from the staff of Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Ind.-Conn.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Lieberman issued a statement saying, “I wish that Amazon had taken this action earlier based on Wikileaks’ previous publication of classified material. The company’s decision to cut off Wikileaks now is the right decision and should set the standard for other companies Wikileaks is using to distribute its illegally seized material. I call on any other company or organization that is hosting WikiLeaks to immediately terminate its relationship with them.”

Lieberman called the documents published by Wikileaks “stolen, classified information.”

Wikileaks protested the Amazon shut down with a Twitter message that said, “If Amazon are so uncomfortable with the first amendment they should get out of the business of selling books.”

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