Communications Workers of America Proposes "Middle Ground" to Protect an Open Internet

The Communications Workers of America mapped out a middle course for the Federal Communications Commission to follow in crafting rules to protect an open and free Internet.

In reply comments submitted to the FCC's Open Internet proceeding, the CWA noted that the FCC's National Broadband Plan sets ambitious broadband deployment goals to bring our nation's infrastructure to global standards, which will be financed mostly with private capital. Therefore, as the Commission crafts open Internet rules, it can, and should, chart a middle course, adopting rules that will maintain a free and open Internet while, at the same time, preserving adequate incentives to promote job-creating investment and innovation in broadband networks.

CWA pointed out that network providers made capital investments of more than eleven times that of application providers during 2008 and 2009, and employed nearly ten times more persons than application providers.

Network providers must have the flexibility they need to manage and innovate over their networks. Consumers should be protected from "unjust and unreasonable" discrimination on the Internet. Such a standard would protect consumers' ability to access all legal content on the Internet without foreclosing their ability to experience the specialized quality of service needed for telemedicine, distance learning, public safety, entertainment, and other purposes.

CWA noted that while the recent Comcast decision may affect the FCC's legal reasoning in this proceeding, the court's decision does not affect the soundness of the policies the Commission must employ to adopt the proposed rules. In the meantime, the CWA is urging the industry to voluntarily agree to abide by the FCC's existing four Internet principles, as well as a fifth regarding transparency that would require providers to report the actual speeds, reliability, contract terms, privacy policies, service limits, and traffic management policies.

Reply Comments of Communications Workers of America - Preserving an Open Internet