http://news.com.com/FCC+approves+ATT-BellSouth+merger/2100-1036_3-6146369.html
But not everyone is happy about the deal. Some Net neutrality purists have criticized the fact that AT&T proposed two exceptions to the Net neutrality principles. The first exception allows AT&T to deliver "enterprise managed IP services." These are services that AT&T sells to business customers to connect different offices or provide Internet connections to data centers. AT&T charges its customers a premium for guaranteed levels of service, which requires the company to manage or prioritize traffic when it runs over its network. The second exemption is for AT&T's IPTV service, U-verse, which is currently rolling out in 11 markets. Because AT&T's IPTV service doesn't run over the public Internet, this should not be a big issue, said Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School specializing in telecommunications law and a charter member of the SavetheInternet.com coalition. "These services are IP in name only," he wrote in a blog posted on SavetheInternet.com on Friday. "These services use only the private infrastructure built by AT&T, and do not rely on the public Internet as described by IP addresses. Hence the exclusion of private IPTV services should be considered less controversial. In fact, were the Network neutrality rules to apply to IPTV, it is doubtful that AT&T could offer its competing cable television services, leaving the cable market with even less competition." Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America, said that some compromise between Net neutrality supporters and AT&T was necessary. His group was asked by the FCC to participate in the negotiations with AT&T over the weekend. "I don't believe the exclusions swallow the definition of Net neutrality that AT&T has agreed to," he said. "People can hypothesize different ways that AT&T will try to define services as IPTV to get around the rules, but if you look at the language, it's pretty clear what is and is not included." AT&T has agreed to adhere to specific rules for a period of two years. But consumer groups are hopeful that if the rules prove to be effective, Congress can use AT&T's own definition of Net neutrality to craft legislation for all carriers. "The two-year term of the agreement should give policymakers in Congress and the FCC enough time to come up with a permanent Net neutrality policy that reflects the significant agreements AT&T has set out," Sohn said. eric wrote: >Excerpt from http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/ --------------------------------------------------------------- WWWhatsup NYC http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
