mattw.fn_blog()

Thoughts from Free Press via Sascha Meinrath’s blog.

If the phone companies succeed, the Brand X case will stand as the trigger that reversed a century of communications policy and undermined the bedrock principle of democratic media –nondiscriminatory access for all. Every major technology in the history of this nation designed to facilitate the transport of goods, services and information has operated as an open access network. The railroads, the highway system, the telegraph, the telephone and the Internet all have followed this principle. And in all of these instances, open access rules increased competition.

The FCC’s plans –with the blessing of the high court– would permit cable and telephone giants to cement their control over the communications infrastructure and cut out their competitors. The cozy duopoly of cable and DSL that controls more than 90 percent of the broadband market will be entrenched for a generation. There will be no competitive broadband carriers. There will be no independent ISPs. The thriving new market for Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone service may be destabilized. The owners of the wires will be handed the Orwellian power to determine which content is appropriate to travel over their networks.