Fairness Doctrine

Explaining Net Neutrality: Is it a Fairness Doctrine for the Internet?

Tue, 10/27/2009 - 10:03am | posted by Marcus Adams

Net neutrality is one of the newest buzzwords around the internet and is starting to gain attention of many computer users.

So, what is net neutrality? Before I answer that question, we need to first understand how the process of getting online works. When you subscribe to a cable or DSL connection, most people believe that you are buying a direct connection to the internet. However, this is not true in that your provider serves as your go-between to all of the servers and bandwidth that makes that connection. For that reason, your provider could (and does, to an extent) control what you can and cannot “see” and do on the internet because they have purchased and allocated bandwidth on your behalf.

Recently, various internet service providers such as Comcast and AT&T have started to suggest that they should begin to charge you for access to the most popular sites and services and this is where net neutrality comes into play. From your provider’s perspective, net neutrality is bad for business because they buy their bandwidth based on capacity–the more they need, the more it costs them.

Here’s an example: YouTube is by far the most popular site for watching and sharing videos. However, video on the internet requires a great deal of data to be transferred from one location to another. In response, the providers would like to start charging you for accessing those bandwidth heavy websites thereby reducing the load (and cost) of the bandwidth they provide and increasing their profits.

If these new fees were to be allowed under rules that could be proposed, issues of censorship arise where as a user you would be forced to pay for content you previously could access for free or lose access to that content. In addition, your provider would have the power to cut off access to sites not deemed cost effective or for any reason they feel appropriate.

Chavez shuts down radio stations

Sun, 08/02/2009 - 5:51pm | posted by Jason Pye

Hugo Chavez has shut down or will be shutting down more than 30 radio stations in Venezuela:

More than a dozen of 34 radio stations ordered shut by the Venezuelan government went off the air on Saturday, part of President Hugo Chavez’s drive to extend his socialist revolution to the media.
The association of radio broadcasters said 13 stations had stopped transmitting, following an announcement Friday night by government broadcasting watchdog Conatel that 34 radio outlets would be closed because they failed to comply with regulations.

Critics said the crackdown infringed on freedom of speech and that owners were not given the right to a proper defense.

Obama Not In Favor Of Reinstating Fairness Doctrine

Fri, 02/20/2009 - 8:06am | posted by Michael Orion Powell

It looks as if Obama is taking the position against re-instatement of the Fairness Doctrine (which mandated that radio stations give alloted time towards differing viewpoints), according to Politico:

Until now, the Obama administration has remained mum when it comes to the Fairness Doctrine.

But now, White House spokesperson Ben LaBolt tells Fox News that “as the president stated during the campaign, he does not believe the Fairness Doctrine should be reinstated.”

Indeed, that was candidate Obama’s position last June.

The article also mentions a very strange development: