Page 311 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

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FlashPoints in network neutrality
1. In 1860, a U.S. federal law subsidizing a coast-to-coast telegraph line stated that “mes-
sages received from any individual, company, or corporation, or from any telegraph
lines connecting with this line at either of its termini, shall be impartially transmitted
in the order of their reception.”
2. In 1937, the SEC. 202. [47 U.S.C. 202] Discrimination and Preferences stated that; “(a) It
shall be unlawful for any common carrier to make any unjust or unreasonable discrimi-
nation in charges, practices, classifications, regulations, facilities, or services for or in
connection with like communication service, directly or indirectly, by any means or
device, or to make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any
particular person, class of persons, or locality, or to subject any particular person, class
of persons, or locality to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage.”
3. As early as 1957, business users and corporations began to lobby for a policy allow-
ing them to build wholly proprietary systems.
4. In 1968, at a proceeding known as the Computer Inquiries, the FCC decided that
the companies providing communications services would not be allowed to interfere
with or discriminate against information services.
5. In 1980, at the Second Computer Inquiry, the FCC decided that even regulated tele-
communications companies, which were the foundation of the U.S. telecommuni-
cation infrastructure, would be allowed to establish subsidiaries that could bypass
existing regulation.
6. In 1982, when a federal court broke up Ma Bell, it required the Baby Bells to “provide
nondiscriminatory interconnection and access to their networks.”
7. The early infrastructure of the Internet was created by DARPA with ongoing support
from government officials as a U.S. publicly funded research network governed by an
Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) that prohibited commercial activity. In the early 1990s,
the existing Internet infrastructure was privatized and the AUP prohibiting commer-
cial activity was lifted.
8. In 1992, the advancement of The National Information Infrastructure(NII) initiative
sought to “Promote private sector investment, through appropriate tax and regula-
tory policies.”
9. In 1996 there was an amendment to the Common Carrier provision in the 1934 Com-
munications Act (44), asserting that the term telecommunications carrier means any
provider of telecommunications services, except that such term does not include ag-
gregators of telecommunications services. The ruling further stipulated that “a tele-
communications carrier shall be treated as a common carrier under this Act only to
the extent that it is engaged in providing telecommunications services” This amend-
ment amounted to removing the existing Common Carrier requirements from Inter-
net Service Providers.
10. In 2002 the FCC issued a Declaratory Ruling for cable modem service, classifying it
as an “information service.” This classification change meant that cable companies