FCC to Hold Secret Meetings on Net Neutrality

A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is holding 'closed-door meetings' with industry insiders to broker a deal on Net Neutrality -- controlling the Internet over the people that use it.

Included in the meeting were a small group of industry lobbyists from AT&T, Verizon, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, and Google. (Source: wsj.com)

Congress, Obama Ponder Net Neutrality

The lobbyists reportedly had a couple of back door meetings with FCC officials, allegedly to 'reach consensus' on Internet rules. (Source: commondreams.org)

Congress has been holding meetings on Net Neutrality for some time. However, critics wonder if they're really looking out for the general public, since Congress has been paid more than $100 million by telecom and cable lobbyists over the past few years.

The Obama administration promised us government transparency, supposedly to shed light on government policy-making and open it up to public scrutiny. President Obama appointed Julius Genachowski -- the man responsible for crafting Obama's pro-Net Neutrality platform in 2008 -- to head the FCC, but the existence of these secret meetings reveals Genachowski's true intentions, as do his intentions of favoring secret deals between the telecom industry and Washington insiders.

Fate of Internet Decided in a Back Room

The back door meetings will decide who ultimately controls Internet content and innovation. Critics wonder why the public is not being given a voice in the proceedings.

Genachowski's secret meetings have come after six months of public comment on whether the FCC should protect Net Neutrality. Of those comments, more than 85 per cent called for a strong Net Neutrality rule. (Source: commondreams.org)

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