Communications of the ACM
Tech Industry Holds Closed Door Talks on Open Internet
Net neutrality supporters have protested secretive negotiations and deals.
Credit: NowPublic
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), representing leading technology industry firms, recently held a closed-door meeting to discuss the future of the open Internet. The meeting was in response to the controversial plan by Google and Verizon that would allow Web providers to give certain types of Internet traffic priority over others. Those opposed to Google and Verizon's plan argue that limiting the concept of net neutrality could lead to a two-tiered Internet. "Great progress has been made to develop Internet openness principles in recent weeks," says ITI president Dean Garfield, but he says more work is needed "to ensure cross-sector support and to preserve Internet access, innovation, and investment."
However, net neutrality supporters say the closed-door meeting is worrisome. "Industry talks that don't have any public process or consumer interest are not likely to result in good policy making that promotes the public interest," says the Free Press' Aparna Sridhar. "Developing meaningful open Internet rules is a job that is best done at the [U.S. Federal Communications Commission] with full public input from a diverse variety of stakeholders and not limited corporate closed-door meetings."
From BBC News
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2010 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA 
No entries found