In a letter to the FCC today, broadband provider AT&T shared their new and improved vision for Net Neutrality. AT&T said “At AT&T, we are committed to working with the President, the Congress and the Commission to achieve the goal of ubiquitous, affordable broadband as set forth” 
As AT&T has been one of the largest opponents against Net Neutrality, this comes as a bit of surprise to all. AT&T concedes their point by sharing that there are three topics that all parties can agree on:
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- Consumers must be at the centre of all discussions on Internet policy
- “preserving the open character of the Internet is critically important to ensuring that all consumers have the opportunity to be creators of content and innovators from their homes or their garages.”
- government policy must preserve and expand incentives that drive the substantial private investment necessary so that the promise of the internet is fully realized and maximally available.
Net Neutrality advocates are concerned that this is just a back door way of getting the FCC to cave and provide AT&T, as well as all of the major broadband suppliers, with the foundation upon which the telcos can build their pay-for-play networks. These advocates feel that a slippery slope will be created by allowing the telcos to monitor your traffic. They argue that the letter from AT&T is no different than what their position was before – if you pay more, you’ll get more on the new and improved Inernet
Written by: Jason Finnerty. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed
