Adelstein and Copps: Voices at the FCC for a Free and Open Internet

It's unusual for federal bureaucrats to achieve rock star status, but two commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission have amassed an enthusiastic fan base among the emerging "Open Internet" movement.

For several years, Democratic Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps have stood up, spoke out and worked all the angles at the cavernous FCC in defense of an Internet that is open, neutral, accessible and affordable to everyone.

These are the bedrock principles of a growing movement of bloggers, media makers, online activists and organizers who are fighting for unfettered access to the Net.

Adelstein joins the North Mississippi All-Stars at the National Conference for Media Reform

While in the minority, Adelstein and Copps have been joined by a somewhat unlikely ally in Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. The three of them are now poised to deliver a major victory to the little guys against one of the country's biggest and most ruthless media companies.

The Making of the Movement

Adelstein and Copps' crusade on the Internet's behalf hasn't been easy.

Lining up against them in Washington is an army of hired legal guns and lobbyists working for the likes of Comcast, AT&T and Verizon. Every day, they swarm the FCC and Capitol Hill to blast away at any rule that would prevent their clients from becoming the new gatekeepers to the Web.

Who ultimately controls the Internet is a question that has galvanized millions of Internet activists in recent years.

Grassroots groups like SavetheInternet.com, Free Press (my employer), Public Knowledge, ACLU, MoveOn.org, Common Cause and Electronic Frontier Foundation see the Internet as the future of all media -at a time when more and more people are taking charge of their TV watching, music listening and other rich media experiences via a high-speed connection.

Using the Internet to Save the Internet

Millions of their supporters have used the tools of the Internet to send Washington a powerful political message: "Don't side with special interests and strip away our online freedoms."

In 2006, Capitol Hill was poised to pass a telco-friendly communications bill opposed by public advocacy groups for lacking basic consumer protections. More than 1.5 million people wrote letters to Congress, attended protest rallies across the country and organized using MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. The bill died on the Senate floor.

In 2007, the FCC was poised to hand over a valuable chunk of spectrum with no strings attached to powerful wireless companies. More than a quarter million people wrote the FCC demanding "open access" to these airwaves. The FCC attached some openness conditions before putting the spectrum out for bid.

Two DC bureaucrats stand up to the powerful phone and cable lobby, and inspire an emerging 'netroots' movement.

When Verizon Wireless censored text messages by NARAL Pro-Choice America in late 2007, they sent tens of thousands of letters to Washington. Under intense public and media scrutiny, Verizon reversed its decision and let the NARAL messages through.

New Media Democracy

"Consumers don't want the Internet to become another version of old media -- dominated by a handful of companies," Adelstein told an enthusiastic audience during a FCC hearing in Pittsburgh earlier this week. "They want choice."

In June, Commissioner Copps asked a crowd at the National Conference for Media Reform: "If you want to blog about local politics, should you really have to pay some huge gatekeeper for every reader you get? Should anyone be telling you what you can read and see and hear on the Internet? Which applications you can run? Which devices you can use?"

He pledged alongside Commissioner Adelstein to "do everything we can" to ensure that the Internet looks like "real media democracy."

Adelstein and Copps' tenure in Washington has come under a Republican-led FCC, which has routinely supported industry efforts to whittle away many of the user freedoms that are fundamental to preserving the Internet's democratic character.

The agency has become embroiled in an issue called "Net Neutrality" -- the fundamental safeguard for users' ability to go where they want, do what they choose and connect with whomever they like every time they boot up the Internet.

Net Neutrality has pitted Internet rights advocates from across the political spectrum against powerful phone and cable companies, which now control broadband access for nearly 99 percent of American users. But Adelstein and Copps have broken with the well-heeled lobbyists to take a principled stand for a people-powered Internet.

Beating Back Comcast

When AT&T announced its plans to merge with BellSouth in 2006, it was the two Democrats who attached Net Neutrality as a two-year condition of the merger and then strong armed Republican members of the commission to sign off on the terms.

Now the FCC faces a new opportunity to establish Net Neutrality as the guiding principle of the Internet.

Earlier this month Chairman Martin announced that he would recommend punishing Comcast Corp. for violating Net Neutrality and blocking subscribers' Internet traffic.

While the final order hasn't come out yet, it's worthwhile to look at how we got here. The Republican Chairman should get a lot of credit for his handling of the Comcast case, including holding public hearings on the issue.

But Adelstein and Copps have walked with the public every step of the way on Net Neutrality.

Now they stand ready to join with Martin against Comcast (Their vote is expected to happen during the August 1 monthly meeting of the five commissioners). This decision would set an historic legal precedent for all those fighting to keep the Internet free of corporate gatekeepers.

"Both commissioners have really shown their mettle on this issue," blogger Matt Stoller of OpenLeft.com said during last week's Netroots Nation conference in Austin. "Copps has been a visionary and a firebrand for the netroots. Adelstein has shown bravery by breaking with the conventional wisdom of Washington for the good of everyone else."

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Comments

[PuppaX]

If Net Neutrality advocates want to make sure the internet remains safe, they should move the fight back to where it really belongs: rolling back the deregulation of radio/TV.

The right-wing was able to build an iron-clad control of the American public with this deregulation,and they won't rest until the only real threat - the internet - is subject to the same controls.T

[olderdem]

Copps and Aldelstein's vote against the Sirius and XM merger was an embarrassment. It was a pander to Clear Channel (the massive media company that just signed Rush Limbaugh to a $400 million contract and was just bought by, among others Bain Capital – Romney’s company), the National Association of Broadcasters, and other special interests. It was in complete disregard for the massive number of individuals that filed an unprecedented number of comments in support of the merger. It was in complete disregard for what was factually in the public interest -- that these companies survive and thrive as competitors to terrestrial radio to force terrestrial to improve their content and reduce commercials. Of course the main opposition to the merger was the NAB and their surrogates. In fact, the Democratic and Republican Senators and Congressmen that opposed the merger received significant contributions from the NAB.

I am a life long Democrat and I found these two Democrats comments regarding the merger offensive, uninformed, and reflective of how special interests have corrupted Washington. Amazingly despite significant support from Clear Channel and other terrestrial radio companies for the Republican Party and Bush, the DOJ and the Republicans on the FCC finally approved the merger, albeit after taking way too much time.

[CeciliaBertrand]

Is this a sign that we are going to be an honorable FREE society in 2009?

[funchords]

What a wonderful day! Adelstein and Copps are Rock Stars but Martin is the guy who bucked anti-Neutrality pressure inexplicably pervasive in his party and he is also doing what is right in the Comcast case. Now, my question is for Tate and McDowell -- can we get one more vote and make it a quartet?

[tompoe]

It has been a long eight years at the FCC. Assuming the chair of the FCC is removed January 21, 2009, what can we expect to happen? The FCC can't afford to turn over the airwaves to the public. They'll need to justify their position as regulator. 802.11s standard, as I understand it, allows devices to easily create ad hoc mesh networks. Apparently, that is what the One Laptop Per Child operates on. The backbone provided by telcos/cablecos industry becomes a mere conduit (as it should be), and if that happens, they don't get to continue their monopolization of creativity and innovation. Can it be that simple? Can we indeed throw the bums out, and rework our needs without relying on corporations?

[RoseMerry]

Hooray! There are some people in government with brains!