Media Criticism

I watched some of Tuesday’s hearing in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the “future�? of the internet. The name of the hearing sounds like it was created in 1990 when the Internet was still in its early commercial stages. I would love to hear what Byron Dorgan, Daniel Inouye and other members of the committee think about Facebook, iTunes and other popular Internet resources. The hearing may have had a silly name but it featured a discussion that is critical to the long-term prospects for democratized Internet technology.

There were several members of the creative community including Writers Guild West President Patric Verrone and actress Justine Bateman who promoted freedom on the Internet as a necessity. An unlikely ally in the Christian Coalition joined these creative types in lamenting network manipulation and closure. The conservative religious organization’s representative Michele Combs was concerned that supposed maintenance and network management practices are limiting free speech and religious practice.

Industry representatives and academic experts covered the rest of the spectrum regarding net neutrality. Professor Lawrence Lessig and the American Enterprise Institute’s Robert Hahn urged moderation in regulating cable companies while allowing flexibility to ensure network freedom. NCTA president Kyle McSlarrow urged Congress to avoid regulating an industry that has succeeded without government intervention.

McSlarrow’s statements highlighted the investment and commitment by cable companies in developing broadband networks. The idea that networks have been left relatively untouched by federal legislation does not mean that this state of existence should remain over the next generation. These statements could have been uttered by the meat packing industry at the turn of the 20th century and the automobile industry in the 1960s without seeming out of place. It is important for the federal government to take gradual steps toward ensuring net neutrality and monitoring cable companies to avoid censorship on the Internet. A victory for the cable companies in this round of legislation would lead to a wide range of forces including the left, right and apolitical in an uprising against virtual authoritarianism.