The Internet Distinction

(Original at Azi Ronen’s Broadband Traffic Management blog)

Sunday, May 27, 2012

While Comcast challenges the Net Neutrality rules (“We do not prioritize our video .. we just provision separate, additional bandwidth for it” – here), OTT providers protest (Sony, Netflix) and the FCC chairman says that “Business model innovation is very important” (here) it seems that the US needs to re-examine its Open Internet laws (see “FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules Made Official; Start on Nov. 20” – here).

The FCC announced the “composition of the Open Internet Advisory Committee (OIAC). The OIAC’s members include representatives from community organizations, equipment manufacturers, content and application providers, venture capital firms, startups, Internet service providers, and Internet governance organizations, as well as professors in law, computer science, and economics“.

“Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School, Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and CoFounder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, will serve as Chair of the OIAC“

Among the members are Neil Hunt, Chief Product Officer, Netflix; Kevin McElearney, Senior Vice President for Network Engineering, Comcast ; Chip Sharp, Director, Technology Policy and Internet Governance, Cisco Systems; Marcus Weldon, Chief Technology Officer, Alcatel-Lucent and Charles Kalmanek, Vice President of Research, AT&T.

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