Carriers Provide Broadband Access, not 'Internet Service'

Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, gave an address at a meeting convened by the Federal Communications Commission at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA on Feb. 25, 2008 concerning Net neutrality.

Markey is a long-time advocate for Internet freedom, fighting with big telecom companies over commercialization of the Internet since its inception, supporting flat-fee pricing to encourage competition, growth and open use.

In his address, Markey points out that the Internet belongs to all of us--both the carriers and the users. A key point he brings out is that the job of the carriers is to provide broadband access to the Internet, not Internet service.

"Much like the policy debate over access charges on information services at the FCC two decades ago--the key question for safeguarding the Internet is recognition that the nature of the Net is really not about services provided by carriers themselves. They don't provide 'Internet services'--they provide broadband access to the Internet."

By administering network management tools, carriers constrain broadband access to the Internet--the very thing thing they are licensed by the FCC, and being paid by customers, to provide.

He agrees that problems may arise until bandwidth increases sufficiently to address the needs of the users. Yet, stifling use is not the answer. Broadband competition is necessary to promote affordable, high-speed Internet access.

"Perhaps if we had multiple competitors or super-high bandwidth to residential consumers this wouldn't be an issue. The problem today is that we have neither sufficient competition nor affordable, truly high-speed access to the Internet. I fully support and celebrate efforts by industry participants to deliver ever higher bandwidth speeds to consumers and have battled in Washington to ensure that policies are in place to make sure these key infrastructure assets are deployed over time to all neighborhoods in a given community."

"If the lack of bandwidth is plaguing network operations and posing policy issues needlessly, then the Commission would do well to re-examine broadband policies with a goal of jump-starting competition. Through broadband competition, consumers can reap the benefits of lower prices, higher speeds, and enhanced service quality. Certainly, wireless policy, universal service mechanisms, and other tools can also promote high-speed broadband deployment and affordability, but I continue to believe that competition should be our preferred policy for alleviating the current broadband policy issues of speed and affordability."

Markey urges the Commission to evaluate broadband policies to encourage competition. He also stresses that the Commission should examine corporate intent and practice of the 'reasonable measures' implemented to solve broadband dilemmas to determine whether carriers intend to utilize these measures temporarily or make them permanent for commercial advantage.

In closing, he reminds us that the Internet is still evolving and that Net freedoms should be consumer-centric. The Net is the promise for the future.

"The promise for the future is the Net's ability to enhance education, health care delivery, celebrate free speech, mitigate against the problems caused by concentration in traditional media, foster innovation, job creation, and spur economic growth."

To read Representative Markey's speech, go to:
Feb. 25, 2008--Markey: Broadband Deployment, Internet Freedom Go Hand-in-Hand
http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3277&Itemid=125

Rep. Markey supports a Net neutrality bill, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008, recently introduced in congress, which will promote freely accessible content, applications, and services, and will force carriers to provide standalone as well as bundled services.

The Googles Partner Program- a golden opportunity for authors

While the Googles Book Search program has raised some objections from publishers and authors for various reasons, this program promises to be a compelling opportunity for authors.

A simplified version of the way the programs works is this:

Once a book has been scanned and placed into digital format by Googles, a portion of the book containing the word the searcher request is summoned upon doing a Google Book Search. The amount of the book reveled is determined based upon authorization by the owner of the copyright and by whether the book is in the public domain. Links to bookstores and libraries are provided in case browsers wishes to obtain a copy of the book.

The most fascinating aspect of this program is the online access portion, currently being developed, of the Googles Book Partner Program. Not only will this program help visitors find and preview books, but the publisher or owner of the copyright will be given the choice of including the entire contents of the book for sale in immediate online access format. Online access will be available to users only through their browser, and only when they have signed in with their personal account. Users will not be able to save a copy to their computer or copy pages; however, they will be able to purchase and read the whole book online.

Now, this in itself is not a novel concept. Except when you are an author and a company is willing to take your book, transpose it into digital format, publish it online, market it, give you profits based on sales and not charge you a dime, you just have to say wow!!!

As an author/self-publisher, I was more than happy to include my book.

When I went to my better half, who is a total computer moron, and described the access online program to him, my question was, "how much should I charge for online access of my book?"

"How much are they making you pay them to put your book in?" he wanted to know.

Patiently, I explained, again, that inclusion of the book into the program was free. He sort-of squinted at me. "Free. You mean they're not charging you anything."


From my trials of trying to get a book into print, even he understood that nobody in the writing/publishing world gives a writer anything for free.

"Yep. Totally free."

"Huh." He was dumbfounded. "And who can read it again?"

I shrugged. "Anyone in the world who has access to a computer and wishes to purchase the book."

"Anybody in the world?"

I nodded.

"Well then, I'd just charge a couple of bucks."

"What, five or six?"

"No. Two. If anyone in the whole world can buy it, than just charge two."

I went away thinking, "oh, ye simple man."

Yet, after reflection, I knew he was right. Being a writer is more than having a book on the bestseller's list or on the shelves of Barnes & Noble. It is being able to reach people through your writing. A book, once read, cannot be unread; it becomes a part of an individuals collective thoughts and memories. I would like to think that a person in India could go to a library and sit down to read a copy of my book. I like the idea that I have the power to set the price so reasonable that libraries all over the world can include my book as part of their collection. We in America have become so numb to exorbitant prices we hardly flinch anymore. Yet in other parts of the world a couple of bucks for a book is a great deal of money. Libraries with limited resources, when faced with the American publisher's prices, may not be able to include many of the books they would desire to carry.

For a writer, the chance to have your book accessible across the globe is a golden opportunity. I would think that every author would urge his or her copyright holder to include his or her book in the online access program at a reasonable price. An opportunity to take advanage of a program such as this one provided by Googles may never rise again.

Another factor my commonsensical better half pointed out to me: if you sell a couple of book to a couple of people for a couple of bucks in every town in every city in every country in the world, that's still a whole lot of money.