PolicyBlog

Sometimes I sympathize with Louis C.K. when I hear tech policy doomsayers complain about the wireless marketplace and the choice therein. I don’t necessarily agree with the talented comic/entertainer about everything, or when he said a few years back, “Everything is amazing and nobody is happy.”  Some people are happy.  They are happy, and happier -- not for the advances made as companies in the wireless ecosystem fiercely compete, but because of them. Let me explain. Sure, there have been... Read More

From today's news release. WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission earlier today (Dec. 21) approved rules dealing with the issue of “net neutrality.” The following statement should be attributed to Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president of public affairs, policy and communications:  “Verizon has long been committed to the goal of an open and vibrant Internet.  We have invested tens of billions of dollars building innovative and dynamic wireline and wireless broadband networks... Read More

I’ve been using the Internet since the mid-1980’s and saw my first web browser in 1993.  Since the web exploded on the scene, the growth in the Internet and broadband connectivity has been phenomenal.  During this period of growth, two incidents I experienced stick out in my mind.  First, in the early part of this decade (somewhere around early 2002 I believe) I was working in Verizon’s Washington office on Internet technology policy.  I was visited one day by a lawyer who was representing a... Read More

Wanted to share this: Verizon Comments on FCC Chairman’s Proposed Net Neutrality Rules  WASHINGTON -- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski on Wednesday (Dec. 1) laid out his proposal for rules dealing with the issue of net neutrality. The following statement should be attributed to Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president of public affairs, policy and communications: “Verizon appreciates the efforts of Chairman Genachowski to seek a consensus on the contentious issue... Read More

Free Press issued yet another heated statement yesterday on Google and Verizon's joint proposal that offers our two companies' views on how policymakers can bridge the gap in the network neutrality debate. With action verbs like “slam” and foreboding nouns like “pact” and “scheme,” the statement is a fun summer read.  But, like some other works of light fiction, it leaves one wanting more – in this case, the facts. There are many facts missing from Free Press’s extreme pronouncements, but let’s... Read More

USA Today’s editorial on network neutrality is not up to the paper’s usual standards. It ignores key elements of the Google-Verizon proposal that benefit consumers and the Internet: prohibitions on blocking or degrading, enforcement of a non-discrimination requirement and a presumption against all prioritization on Internet connections.   In fact, the non-discrimination provision and presumption against any prioritization is stronger than what the FCC could obtain through its threatened... Read More

The NYT article regarding conversations between Google and Verizon is mistaken.  It fundamentally misunderstands our purpose. As we said in our earlier FCC filing, our goal is an Internet policy framework that ensures openness and accountability, and incorporates specific FCC authority, while maintaining investment and innovation. To suggest this is a business arrangement between our companies is entirely... Read More

Rob Pegoraro is nostalgic for the days when getting good Internet access was easier because there were more providers from which to choose (he suggested fourteen years ago and seven years ago as benchmarks).  OK Rob, let’s reflect on exactly how easy it was in the good old days.  I happen to remember those days pretty well, and yes, there were many providers of dial-up access service fourteen years ago.  To the degree that some of those providers offered value-added services, I would agree that... Read More

TV needs its flame-throwing debates.  Politics lives off its one-liners. And human nature seeks the cozy confines of neat labels, clean boarders, and bright lines. But life doesn’t work that way. And neither does the Internet Ecosystem. A point made on this blog and elsewhere is that it helps to view all the players in the Internet space as entwined entities, whose success and failure impact seemingly distant players.   That all players, big and small, play vital roles.   That said, labels... Read More