[DMCA-Activists] Vint Cerf on Net Neutrality

[Seth Johnson]

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Subject: [IP] Vint Cerf speaks out on net neutrality
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2005 10:59:55 -0500
From: David Farber <address@hidden>
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From: address@hidden
Date: November 9, 2005 9:56:29 AM EST
To: address@hidden, address@hidden
Subject: Vint Cerf speaks out on net neutrality


Vint Cerf speaks out on net neutrality
11/08/2005 01:21:00 PM

Posted by Alan Davidson, Washington Policy Counsel, DC office

Congress is holding a hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, November 8th,
on "network neutrality" and a big new telecommunications bill
affecting the Internet. Vint Cerf, our net neutrality guru, was
unable to testify because of a little awards ceremony at the
White House (congratulations, Vint!), but here is his letter to
the Hill outlining our concerns. Microsoft will be testifying
for our side, demonstrating that inside the Beltway, we agree
on a lot.

You can follow the proceedings here -- and we hope you do. This
bill could fundamentally alter the fabulously successful
end-to-end Internet.


November 8, 2005

The Honorable Joe Barton
Chairman
Committee on Energy and Commerce
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable John D. Dingell
Ranking Member
Committee on Energy and Commerce
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Barton and Ranking Member Dingell,

I appreciate the inquiries by your staff about my availability
to appear before the Committee and to share Google’s views
about draft telecommunications legislation and the issues
related to "network neutrality." These are matters of great
importance to the Internet and Google welcomes the Committee’s
hard work and attention. The hearing unfortunately conflicts
with another obligation, and I am sorry I will not be able to
attend. (Along with my colleague Robert Kahn, I am honored to
be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Wednesday at
the White House for our work in creating the Internet protocol
TCP/IP.)

Despite my inability to participate in the planned hearing in
person, I hope that you will accept some brief observations
about this legislation.

The remarkable social impact and economic success of the Internet
is in many ways directly attributable to the architectural  
characteristics that were part of its design. The Internet was  
designed with no gatekeepers over new content or services. The  
Internet is based on a layered, end-to-end model that allows
people at each level of the network to innovate free of any
central control. By placing intelligence at the edges rather
than control in the middle of the network, the Internet has
created a platform for innovation. This has led to an explosion
of offerings – from VOIP to 802.11x wi-fi to blogging – that
might never have evolved had central control of the network
been required by design.

My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to
the Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly
permits network operators to discriminate in favor of certain
kinds of services and to potentially interfere with others
would place broadband operators in control of online activity.
Allowing broadband providers to segment their IP offerings and
reserve huge amounts of bandwidth for their own services will
not give consumers the broadband Internet our country and
economy need. Many people will have little or no choice among
broadband operators for the foreseeable future, implying that
such operators will have the power to exercise a great deal of
control over any applications placed on the network.

As we move to a broadband environment and eliminate century-old
non-  discrimination requirements, a lightweight but enforceable
neutrality rule is needed to ensure that the Internet continues
to thrive. Telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they
can call; network operators should not dictate what people can
do online.

I am confident that we can build a broadband system that allows
users to decide what websites they want to see and what
applications they want to use – and that also guarantees high
quality service and network security. That network model has
and can continue to provide economic benefits to innovators and
consumers -- and to the broadband operators who will reap the
rewards for providing access to such a valued network.

We appreciate the efforts in your current draft to create at
least a starting point for net neutrality principles. Google
looks forward to working with you and your staff to draft a
bill that will maintain the revolutionary potential of the
broadband Internet.

Thank you for your attention and for your efforts on these
important issues.

Sincerely,

Vinton Cerf
Chief Internet Evangelist
Google Inc.

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