CEI - Tuesday debate on net neutrality!

NET NEUTRALITY
Tuesday, April 9
9:45AM - 11:15AM
Rayburn HOB

What's Next for Net Neutrality & the Internet?
A Discussion & Debate

The Barack Obama Administration’s Network Neutrality order awaits a late summer or early fall D.C. Circuit Court ruling on its legality.  The Court in December may have telegraphed its Net Neutrality thoughts with its decision to uphold the Administration’s data roaming order - or not.  We will look at how - or if - the latter decision affects the former.  And what’s next.
 
If the Court upholds the order, what then could - and should - Net Neutrality regulation opponents do?
 
If the Court dumps the order, would - and should - the Administration go for full Title II Internet reclassification?  Should they attempt yet another "third way" to try to square the circle?  Or should the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - having then been twice rebuked on Net Neutrality regs - give up and move on (dot org)?
 
All of which leads to the ultimate question: Do we need de jure regulations, or do de facto free market realities deliver all the Net Neutrality we’ll ever need?  And what does all of this mean for the future of all things Internet?

Emcee

Seton Motley - President, Less Government

Discussers & Debaters

Phil Kerpen - President, American Commitment
Ryan Radia - Competitive Enterprise Institute

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Gigi Sohn - President, Public Knowledge
Sascha Meinrath - Vice President, New America Foundation

LessGovernment - What's Next for Net Neutrality & the Internet? A Discussion & Debate - On Tuesday

The Barack Obama Administration’s Network Neutrality order awaits a late summer or early fall D.C. Circuit Court ruling on its legality.  The Court in December may have telegraphed its Net Neutrality thoughts with its decision to uphold the Administration’s data roaming order - or not.  We will look at how - or if - the latter decision affects the former.  And what’s next. 

If the Court upholds the order, what then could - and should - Net Neutrality regulation opponents do?

If the Court dumps the order, would - and should - the Administration go for full Title II Internet reclassification?  Should they attempt yet another “third way” to try to square the circle?  Or should the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - having then been twice rebuked on Net Neutrality regs - give up and move on (dot org)?

All of which leads to the ultimate questions: Do we need de jure regulations, or do de facto free market realities deliver all the Net Neutrality we’ll ever need?  And what does all of this mean for the future of all things Internet?

REGISTER: http://bit.ly/ZAwQHW

WHEN: Tuesday, April 9, 2013; 9:45am - 11:15am
WHERE: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2322
REGISTER: http://bit.ly/ZAwQHW

LessGovernment - Register Now for April 9: What Next for Net Neutrality & the Internet? A Discussion & Debate

WHEN: Tuesday, April 9, 2013; 9:45am - 11:15am
WHERE: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2322
REGISTER: http://bit.ly/ZAwQHW
The Barack Obama Administration’s Network Neutrality order awaits a late summer or early fall D.C. Circuit Court ruling on its legality.  The Court in December may have telegraphed its Net Neutrality thoughts with its decision to uphold the Administration’s data roaming order - or not.  We will look at how - or if - the latter decision affects the former.  And what’s next.  If the Court upholds the order, what then could - and should - Net Neutrality regulation opponents do? If the Court dumps the order, would - and should - the Administration go for full Title II Internet reclassification?  Should they attempt yet another “third way” to try to square the circle?  Or should the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) - having then been twice rebuked on Net Neutrality regs - give up and move on (dot org)? All of which leads to the ultimate questions: Do we need de jure regulations, or do de facto free market realities deliver all the Net Neutrality we’ll ever need?  And what does all of this mean for the future of all things Internet?
Agenda: 09:45 a.m.                   Cordial Interaction and Registration 10:00 a.m.                   Convene: Discussion and Debate 11:15 a.m.                   Adjourn

Discussers and Debaters:
Seton Motley – President, Less Government ·         @SetonMotley ·		Gigi Sohn – President, Public Knowledge ·         @GigiBSohn ·
Phil Kerpen – President, American Commitment ·         @Kerpen ·		Sascha Meinrath – Vice President, New American Foundation ·         @SaschaMeinrath ·
REGISTER: http://bit.ly/ZAwQHW

LessGovernment - To Attack the Internet, Obama Admin is About to Lie About It. Again

http://bit.ly/X99gA3

According to the Administration, the Web is failing.

Seton Motley

The mostly regulation-free Internet has become a free speech, free market Xanadu. 

So of course President Barack Obama and his Left want to regulate the daylight out of it.  In their efforts to do so, they will spin any tale to try to engender any public support for new Web regulations. 

For instance, the Barack Obama Administration is likely about to totally fabricate a U.S. mobile broadband assessment report.  In which they will say that the unequivocally astounding success that is our Internet – is at best uncertain, if not an utter failure. 

If any of this nonsense sounds familiar, it’s only because it is.  In May 2011 we had this: 

Which brings us to the looming annual broadband deployment report from the (Barack Obama Administration’s) Federal Communications Commission (FCC) (called the 706 Report). 

In which they are going to again give U.S. broadband deployment a failing grade – just as they did last year. 

Which is completely “DC Disingenuous.” In other words, the FCC is lying through its bureaucratic teeth. 

We bet you weren’t aware that Internet access has for the last four years stunk on ice.  That is, of course, because it hasn’t. 

98% of Americans have access to wireline or mobile broadband, from cable companies, phone companies, satellite companies, wireless Internet access providers (WISPs) and from 3G or 4G mobile wireless providers. 

Does all this access success beget commercial success?  Indeed it does. 

E-commerce sales accounted for 5.4 percent of the total $1.1 trillion retail sales in the final three months of 2012, representing the highest percentage since the Census Bureau started keeping track of online sales more than a decade ago. 

And the Web’s free speech advancement has been, if possible, even more astonishing. 

The Internet has made the First Amendment almost completely horizontal.  Anyone, at virtually no cost, can publish their thoughts.  Or collect the thoughts of themselves and others.  Or find like-minded others to begin to gather together. 

Online publishing has been a fundamental component of the breakdown of the Left’s news and media monopoly.  The Genesis, Exodus and Deuteronomy of the conservative Tea Party – the greatest political rising of the last quarter century – has been on the Web. 

If the Right is to succeed, the Internet must be their vorpal weapon.  The Left currently has it all over them there – that must change. 

Of course the President and the Left won’t wait around for the Right to figure it out.  They’ll instead preemptively regulate the Net into oblivion.  They’d like a return to the 1960s media monopoly status quo – that’s just the way it is.  And they’ll say and do anything to reverse this remarkable free speech, free market progress. 

Like issue serial ridiculous Web “assessment” reports.

Seton Motley is the founder and president of Less Government.  He is a writer, television and radio commentator, political and policy strategist, lecturer, debater, and activist. 

Please feel free to follow him on Twitter and Facebook - it’s his kind of stalking.

ALG - House considers bill to give Internet radio a royalty boost

Nov. 29, 2012, Fairfax, VA-The Intellectual Property subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee yesterday in a hearing considered legislation by Rep. Jason Chaffetz that would compel the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) to reassess royalty rates paid by Internet radio providers, bringing their costs more in line with fees paid by cable and satellite providers.

In a recent oped for The Daily Caller, Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson called the current arrangement "unfair, anti-competitive royalty rate discrimination" that favors satellite and cable radio.

"Rather than organically promoting supply and demand within the free market, the current system is based on the government imposing an unfair and discriminatory burden on one segment of the economy so that another might benefit," Wilson added.

Wilson also fingered three foreign-owned record labels he said dominate the industry. "These three labels collectively control roughly 80 percent of the music that's played over America's airwaves - and for years they have relied on the CRB to impose music rate structures that guarantee the preservation of this monopoly," Wilson wrote.

Urging the House to pass the legislation, Wilson called the Internet the future of radio. "The Internet has become a vibrant component of virtually every marketplace on earth - removing barriers, expanding consumer choices and enhancing economic competitiveness."

In a statement Wilson said "It is not up to the government to preserve the legacy media and hold Internet providers back. This type of cronyism only suppresses innovation when it is time for government to get out of the way."

View online: http://getliberty.org/house-considers-bill-to-give-internet-radio-a-royalty-boost/

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Americans for Limited Government is a non-partisan, nationwide network committed to advancing free market reforms, private property rights and core American liberties. For more information on ALG please call us at 703-383-0880 or visit our website at www.GetLiberty.org.