OPINION: No neutrality on net neutrality
By Paul Sweeting -- Video Business, 3/14/2008
MARCH 14 | THE STUDIOS are committed to filtering the Internet and Washington wants to limit ISPs’ ability to discriminate.
Paul Sweeting is editor of Content Agenda
In his annual State of the Industry address at the ShoWest theater-owners convention last week, Motion Picture Assn. of America CEA Dan Glickman offered a mostly upbeat message.
“Last year, we celebrated a box office that was back in black, once again growing at a healthy pace,” he said. “Today, we stand on a new mountaintop, and I have to say, I like the view. We had about 5% growth in the domestic and worldwide box office—all-time high for both—reminding us once again that good stories well told will always find a place in our hearts, our lives and our local theaters.”
At the end of the speech, however, he plunged into the dark cloud behind the silver lining.
“No one here needs a lecture on what happens when one illegal copy makes its way to the Internet—God forbid on opening weekend—and is instantly available to the world,” he said. “Today, new tools are emerging that allow us to work with Internet Service Providers to prevent this illegal activity. And, new efforts are emerging in Washington to stop this essential progress.
“This effort is being called by its proponents ‘net neutrality.’ It’s a clever name. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing neutral about this for our customers or for our ability to make great movies—blockbuster first-run films—in the future. If Washington had truth in labeling, we’d call this proposal by another name: Government regulation of the Internet.”
Glickman’s combative tone reflects a striking evolution in the studios’ position on the subject of network neutrality, from initially ignoring the issue, to urging regulators not to do anything too radical, to now, full-throated opposition to efforts to mandate equal treatment of all bits crossing a network.
Read the full article at ContentAgenda.com.
