While key players are slugging it out over ISP content filtering, the Federal Communications Commission has released a slew of decisions and announcements about broadband. They include a new public hearing on broadband network management practices and new rules for telecommunications services in apartment buildings. And one of the commissioners attempted to ease concerns of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) over the impact of net neutrality regulations. (We covered the FCC's latest data on high speed broadband deployment [1] last night.)

Content filtering flap

Earlier this week, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein told a symposium on Internet Video Policy [2] that the various net neutrality proposals the agency is considering include "exemptions for illegal activities." Content Agenda's Paul Sweeting reports [3] that Adelstein said that the Commission will be "very careful about the use of the Internet for illegal purposes, and that includes the illegal downloading of copyrighted works, which is a very serious problem." But, Sweeting adds, that doesn't mean Adelstein approves of content filtering. "The problem is, how can you ever tell what's illegal?" Adelstein asked the gathering.

This issue, of course, flutters close to the heart of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and MPAA, parties which have filed early and often in the FCC's proceeding on the matter. The MPAA's February 28 statement asserts that "ISPs must be able to use network management techniques to address the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content taking place over their networks, for the benefit of legitimate consumers and subscribers." The powerful movie studio lobby filed the comment over a week before taking a public stand [4] against net neutrality at the Showest convention in Las Vegas. There, MPAA boss Dan Glickman declared that government regulation of the Internet "would impair the ability of broadband providers to address the serious and rampant piracy problems occurring over their networks today."

To read the complete article, click here [5].