Ready. Set. Flinch. The same senator who fought for the $223 million bridge to Nowhere, Alaska is in charge of rewriting United States telecommunications laws in the Senate. In a working draft of an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has confused just about everybody.

A crash course in Congressional Logic 101: It's not okay for government, by way of FCC regulation, to interfere with the free economic structure enjoyed by telecommunications giants AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast. It is okay for government, by way of FCC regulation, to interfere with the free economic structure enjoyed by broadcasters and consumers, as long as it involves the Recording Industry Association of America, but not necessarily the Motion Picture Association of America.

Confused? Let's do the longer version.

Network neutrality advocates were disappointed to see a lack of provisions for the principle's protection under the 135-page amendment supplied by Sen. Stevens, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. This is the second blow in a week to Network neutrality, supported by Internet giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, after the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted down the proposed "Markey Amendment" to the COPE Act.

We remember Sen. Stevens from the famous "Bridge to Nowhere," a pork project that earmarked nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to build a bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska (population 8,900) to the remote island of Gravina, Alaska (population 50).

And before further details on the peculiarity of his amendment, which bans devices that digitally record audio and television broadcasts, we should take a quick note of Stevens' top campaign contributors. They include:

1. News Corp.
3. Verizon
5. Viacom
6. AT&T
7. Walt Disney
9. General Electric (NBC)
19. Sprint Nextel

Under the amendment, the FCC would be commissioned to outlaw digital over-the-air radio and digital satellite receivers that allow users to record broadcasts. New receivers would be required to treat broadcasts marked with an audio broadcast flag as copy-protected.

That makes the RIAA very happy. From News.com:

Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, called it "a necessary and appropriate focus on an issue critical to record labels, songwriters, publishers, artists and many others in the music community." The RIAA is worried about newer receivers, such as the Sirius S50, that it says let Americans assemble a personal music library without paying for it.

The same goes for digital TV tuners, like ElGato's EyeTV 500, that record and save over-the-air broadcasts and save them without copy protection. Stevens does include measures in the bill already protected under Fair Use, such as viewing recorded broadcasts at home and making short excerpts of copyrighted material available over the Internet.

As we already know, the MPAA doesn't like one blasted thing about Fair Use. Again from News.com:

Those sections are likely to draw opposition from the Motion Picture Association of America and its allies; one source close to Hollywood told CNET News.com on Monday that "the movie industry has real problems with the broadcast flag language as it appears in the bill."

Just for a recap, Sen. Stevens, whose largest contributors are telecommunications and broadcasting companies, wrote legislation favorable to telecommunications and broadcasting companies and unfavorable to the general consumer, small businesses, and Internet companies while providing "new protections" of rights citizens already have.

Maybe if we trade him back the bridge, he'll let this one go.

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"I never met a Kentuckian who wasn't coming home."--Governor Happy Chandler

Before anyone goes off on a tangient and travails like a little girl in labor on this issue, Go to Ketchikan and find out why the people there want the bridge! I live in the Ketchikan area, on an island 25 miles away. When we have medical emergencies during our stormy seasons, we need to get to the airport to go to Anchorage or Seattle. Our winds get to 100 mph+ at times and the little ferry that services the airport and Ketchikan sometimes can not run. Some idiot named it "The bridge to nowhere" without properly researching the situation. Island life here in Southeast Alaska can be extremely treacherous in the fall, winter and spring. If people would come here they would see what I am talking about. The internet issue is an incidental issue....

I agree bad weather sucks. Net neutrality is the issue here though and it is a serious one. As a content producer not only for ourselves but for our clients, the entire premise and promise of Web 2.0 could be stopped in its tracks with the actions being considered in Congress this week.

A number of videobloggers are trying to bring attention to this. You can follow Save the Internet at Technorati and watch our contribution. We encourage people to submit their comments to their congressional representatives.

Aloha,

Roxanne

Okay SLankerd,

Let's do the math.

50 residents with medical emergencies.

$250,000,000 bridge.

You would cost me $5,000,000 per medical emergency.

It seems that you are asking for very special treatment because of where you choose to live. You have my permission to move closer to Anchorage.

Now, on to the RIAA and MPAA thing. Reminds me of the ASCAP fight against the broadcast industry in 1941. Ascap controlled the music industry and we were given the choices of spam type music from people like Gershwin and his ilk. They wanted more money for music being broadcast over the radio. They got greedy.

Robert Sarnoff and others in the broadcast industry decided not to pay, so they created BMI and 'discovered' music everywhere. That is how swing, blues, jazz, and eventually rock and roll made it to the airwaves.

ASCAP lost, and instead of collecting what royalties they were before they got greedy, they lost everything. To this day, radio stations do not pay royalties for the music they play. Don't know about TV, but since Sarnoff owned NBC, probably don't pay either.

Doesn't apply to the internet.

But, if you think about it, there is a rebellion of the same type taking place. And, sooner or later the big guys will have to change. This is just growing pains, and we are the casualties of war.

I guess that's my two cents.

223 million dollars for a bridge to accommodate the desires of 8,900 citizens who CHOOSE to live in BFE is ridiculous. I think it laughable that you defend the idea as a good use of my tax dollars. Perhaps my neighborhood association should court the government to build a monorail to the local grocer since the traffic here sucks?

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j, are you insinuating America has a Dinosaur trained by Big Tele writing the rules for 21st century communications?

Before you start bashing telecom giants such as AT&T and Verizon, you may want to check your facts. Far from enjoying "free economic structure" that you claim, they are the heaviest regulated businesses in the US. They are FORCED to sell to their competitors BELOW their own cost.

They are routinely blocked from competing with cable TV companies by franchise agreements that the cable companies get by using kick-backs (bribes) to city officials.

Then, to add insult to injury, large content providers are trying to subvert Net Neutrality into a free ride on the networks that were built and currently maintained by the likes of AT&T and Verizon.

Just to refresh your memories, Alexander Bell, who later formed The Bell Telephone Company which became AT&T, invented the telephone in 1876. Bell Labs invented the transistor and the laser among other things such as UNIX. While you throw away your defective modern phones every year or so, the ones built by Western Electric (the manufacturing arm of Bell Labs) a hundred years ago still work.

You bad-mouth the hand that fed you the technology you use and made it all possible (Ma Bell, not Al Gore).

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Wow, I'm almost tempted to get satellite radio just to hear what Howard Stern is saying about this boneheaded boondoggle. Free speech my small shapely butt . . . The telecoms want to put us all out of business so they can reap the harvest. They just might outsmart themselves though . . . The demand for satellite internet will certainly rise if this goes through in its present backward form.

DrTandem1, I've got to wonder if you're a salaried employee of one of these large telecoms. And for the record, the cable companies stand to benefit just as much as the telecoms if Network Neutrality is subverted.

SLankerd, you are WAY out of line in suggesting that the Bridge to Nowhere isn't just that. Talk about a federal money pit. And I can just imagine what the maintenance costs are going to be on that Hunk of Pork. And to disavow you of the nobility of Senator Stevens, I'm sure he is assured re-election off that squealer for a long time to come, so it was PURELY self interest on his part. And now here he goes again . . . One only hopes the investigative reporters jump on this one and peruse his bank accounts and spending habits from now until the vote . . . and hopefully keep him at least semi honest.

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Yes, the cable companies have the same problem with Net Neutrality as Ma Bell. So, do I. It will cost (us) the average user a lot more money just to surf, if the large content providers get a pass and their "pass" is passed onto us, the consumer.

Regarding satellite internet, it's been around for a while and is far too expensive. Cellular transmission and WiFi are more likely to continue for mobile users.

Sorry, I'm rooting for AT&T and Verizon's IPTV. I would prefer to pay Al a Carte for my TV shows, rather than subsidize 500 I don't watch. Is it any wonder why the cable companies try to lock-out the phone companies? The consumer would choose the packages offered at the lower prices every time.

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Re the economics of Satellite access-- If the companies that control that are smart they'll start dropping those prices right now, though truth is they have been coming down steadily and aren't that far from affordable now. They're definitely in the ballpark if you're outside of town and otherwise slave to the cable companies.

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Wouldn't it cost less to build a top notch hospital on the Island than a bridge to elsewhere? I mean for 50 people, you only need a hospital with what 20 beds? I'm figuring 50 million max to build it and 5 mil a year to run it, and that would cost way less than the bridge. Hey, why think through things?

Now, on the net stuff. Here we are fighting for one big industry to win over another while we all sit around making jack compared to the corporate big wigs on both sides of the fence.

Boo hoo for the Telecoms for not being able to milk us more, boo hoo for all the record companies driven out of business because of people's ability to record music for home use, boo hoo for multi-billion dollar companies drowing in the horror that no one will ever buy music again, no one will ever watch tv again, no one will watch the ads.

In my opinion these companies can go back to their billion dollar offices and cry their heads off at how terrible life is when a guy making 30k a year who can't afford gas for his car is having a hard time choosing between gas and the latest "Greenday" CD.

Woah is me. I'm getting tired of everyone getting scared by this talk of charging content providers. If you AT&T can't make money selling DSL at the price you are selling it at, then charge more.

I forgot when I chose to sell my services for less than it costs me to produce the product.

Lets worry about a real issue, and that's if we're all going to turn into Monkey's because we aren't using Ask.com.

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"Corporations will be the ones to name all the new galaxies in the future. The Starbucks galaxy and the AT&T solar system! And were all polishing the brass of this titanic! IT'S all going DOWN!"

I didn't know it at the time, but I guess I am now.

A few things that irk me:

Telecoms were given a ton of money in 96 by the gov't to build the infrastructure, and still lay claim to "the pipes"

A coworker explained to me that of his $40 subscription, he used something like $1 worth of bandwidth...ISP's say that is to pay for future infrastructures

Legislators seem to be acting in lockstep with their contributors, not acting in the best interest of their constituents (on state level maybe, but this a national issue)

The free economy argument isn't working here. When Barton argued against the Markey Amendment, he used the non-interference in the market debate. Yet, they abandon that argument when convenient (or lucrative) for them...either regulate or don't, but the important issue here is more that with lobbyists and PACs having so much influence, it ceases to be a free economy...it becomes a cabal.

The Telecoms and the legislature are saying to "trust them," they won't screw it up, but their credibility is shot. A few years back I asked Verizon about getting a specific phone number...they wanted to charge me $35 just to run a search to see if was available. they do take advantage of their monopolistic positions, and will squeeze everybody, especially if allowed to create a two-tiered internet --blogs, small businesses, much of what is great about the open Web and Web 2.0 today, could be gone, as the digital divide grows larger...we want more people on the net creating, not fewer.

In Japan, cell phones are advanced, dirt cheap, service is cheap and you get a lot for your money. Mobile providers here give us phones two years behind, charge us outrageous prices for them, require expensive monthly plans for the good stuff, and you still get little (comparatively) for that money

Trusting them not to do something when they have the power to do something is not an option. They've proved it time and time again. I compare these days to asking the public to trust the gov't and the oil companies not to gouge them...it is the guy making 30K that suffers...the CEO of Exxon, when on the Today Show was asked if they would consider lowering prices in a time of crisis. His answer was cold when he said they had to act in the interest of their shareholders. that was a "no," said Matt Lauer.

So for me, it is the same issue. the gov't nor the corporation is looking out for the little guy. They look out for themselves. We've been saddled, after 30 years of warning, with no alternative energy and a monopoly run by guys who wouldn't care if gas was $20 a gallon. And we are being asked to trust them again.

Just can't do it.

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"I never met a Kentuckian who wasn't coming home."--Governor Happy Chandler

If gas gets to $20 a gallon, i'm putting all my belongings on Ebay, moving to the beach and getting a bike...and I'll start selling "telecomuting" technologies to companies.

No more gas for me. $20 a gallon, I wonder if your shareholders will come to the annual meeting at those prices Mr. Exxon CEO? Not sure? I'll sell you a web confering solution for exactly $10 billion, so you can have your annual meetings.

Okay, random thought, how much does Exxon pay for the gas it uses to drive it's trucks around the country?

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Since you seem to know a lot about the telecom industry's side of the story, can you explain the money they have been collecting on long distance because they have people convinced it costs much more to complete those calls than it does local calls?

Can you show where it does cost a lot more to complete long distance calls than it does to complete local calls? How about interstate calling? How about inter-lata calling?

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