Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Bureau Chief Sends Scary Message

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2003 09:27:25 -0400

Bureau Chief Sends Scary Message

Some high-level policymakers at the Federal Communications Commission believe that
the Internet is adequately "open" and does not require further government
oversight to ensure it remains that way. But there are those within the commission
who say such thinking, if it becomes policy, would enable large companies to deny
access to otherwise publicly available content and/or services.

FCC sources, many of whom are deeply troubled by the current direction
policymaking appears to be headed, point to comments by Media Bureau Chief Ken
Ferree. Indeed, Feree has publicly stated that "the most glaringly odd thing about
this whole 'openness' debate ... is that it's not even clear that a truly open
distribution model ultimately will benefit the part of the Internet economy that
it is supposed to benefit - those on the so-called fringe."

Ferree made that troubling comment more than a year ago when he keynoted a
Progress & Freedom Foundation luncheon. In his words, creating rules to ensure an
open Internet is "surrendering to regulation as a substitute for competition." He
said the theory of such a model is that "there is not, nor will there soon be,
sufficient competition at the distribution level." That being the case, government
must regulate access on currently existing platforms, he said. This is "very much
common carrier thinking ... very much 19th century thinking," he added. To learn
more about the ramifications of Ferree's comments and where the FCC may be headed,
read this week's edition of Communications Today's sister publication, Telecom
Policy Report, the industry leading source for behind-the-scenes investigative
reporting.

www.telecomweb.com

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