The war of words between major content providers and the telecom companies escalated nicely during the opening of the VON conference in San Jose, drawing the federal government into the fray.
Maybe it was a bit of frustration with the ongoing battle with the Bush Administration over a subpoena for search records from Google’s databases and the hearing that took place today.
But Andrew Mclaughlin, general counsel for Google, did not mince words in relating a lack of confidence in government agencies, Light Reading reported:
…Mclaughlin says many in Washington would rather not get the FCC involved in the Internet at all. “The FCC sucks,” Mclaughlin says. “Why would you want the FCC to get involved in anything? Its track record is pretty bad when it comes to processes and outcomes.”
After his statements, Mclaughlin made it clear he was expressing the views of others in Washington who are not convinced there is a need for regulating the Internet.
Although the big telcos have not yet imposed a QoS fee on content providers for delivering video via a proprietary network protocol, it has not been officially ruled out either. Worse, proposed legislation that could thwart such threats to “net neutrality” has not made its way through Congressional committees for a vote, leading to even more frustration:
“Why are the interests of truth, love, and the American way getting our butts kicked in Washington?” Google’s Mclaughlin asked.
Many in Washington believe that access networks are changing rapidly, and might soon be dominated by wireless Internet connections, which would again change how QOS is implemented. “There is a belief in Washington that wireless is going to blow this thing wide open anyway, so why legislate now,” Mclaughlin says.
Maybe if Google deployed that nationwide wireless network that many think Google could accomplish with all the dark fiber it owns, that would put an end to the threat of telecoms squeezing the network chokepoints they control.
Of course, that would leave Google in control of the network, and while it is assumed these issues would go away, that isn’t guaranteed either.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
