Net Policy News
Le Pen Votes for Neutrality
"Some issues are neither right nor left." I'd never vote for Marine Le Pen, President of the National Front in France and consider it tragic her party is doing so well. But when she's right, she's right. In her vote at the EU and in her statement below, she strongly supports Net Neutrality. Meanwhile, the "socialist" French government waffled on the subject and the "liberal" U.S. Obama regime actively opposed NN at the U.N.
Danny Sepulveda's State Department insisted that the words "Net Neutrality" be removed from the ITU & WSIS resolutions. I was horrified by this, especially after Net Neutrality was a strong part of the President's campaign. I said so on the State Department ITAC, where I'm a member and I urge you to also join.
"I believe Barack Obama and the U.S. government continue to support net neutrality, a major plank of Obama's platform since 2007. So we should have been happy that WSIS + 10 included two references. Instead, our draft strips out both. I asked what was going on on the ITAC call and was told "we believe NN is too controversial" by a corporate lobbyist. Someone tried to change that to the more bureaucratically correct "this isn't the right place" but that's obviously not the real issue.
The U.S. is not a credible defender of the open Internet if we keep making decisions like this.
Dave Burstein"
I make a point of reporting what I say at ITAC but I keep "off the record" other people's comments. I urge all of you to join, filtering the (voluminuous) email into a folder to read at your convenience. Ambassador Phil Verveer testified to Congress, that ITAC is "open to all interested parties to review and advise." Julie Zoller writes
"Please provide the following if you wish to join the ITAC to Julian Minard at MinardJE@STATE.GOV, copy to JMinard@ARTELLLC.COM:
Company/Organization/Community you are representing:
I've been assured there will be minimal bureaucratic difficulty but be considerate if there's a short delay because the staff is very busy.
Below, my earlier article confirming with State that ITAC is open, Ms. Le Pen's official statement that is more progressive than two "liberal" governments and some miscellaneous rules of State committees.
ITU Secrecy Disappearing As U.S. ITAC Open To All
Join me and make a difference. 303,000,000 Americans have just been offered access to the notoriously secret ITU WCIT documents. Just join ITAC, the State Department International Telecommunications Advisory Committee, and enjoy access. "It takes a simple email with a request to be placed on the ITAC listserv, based on some material interest in a given topic," Paul Najarian of State writes. Simply send an email to joinJulian Minard at MinardJE@STATE.GOV, copy to JMinard@ARTELLLC.COM: and you automatically have access to ITAC. That's actually proving true, and email me if you need details how to make this work for you. Until now, no one knew about it so almost no one applies except insiders. It's really that simple. I've recommended three people and they were all treated respectfully.
Uncle Sam wants you, as Ambassador Terry Kramer makes clear below and confirmed to me in a brief phone call. "We welcome all interested stakeholders to participate in our WCIT preparatory process and help the U.S. Government form positions in advance of the conference. We solicit this input and feedback through the United States International Telecommunications Advisory Committee (ITAC)." His colleague, Ambassador Phil Verveer testified to Congress, that ITAC is "open to all interested parties to review and advise on the regional and national contributions to WCIT as they are submitted."
To my amazement, the discussions are substantive. With almost no one outside the system, it's become a convenient forum for State to share information with NTIA, FCC, and others, as well as two dozen or so corporate people who are on the inside. So it's actually a useful point to express your opinion. Being on ITAC gives you access to the main ITU and WCIT documents, along with a painful number of exceedingly boring emails. The meetings are in D.C. at State and generally have call-ins.
Defending freedom and neutrality on the Internet
Explanation of vote Marine Le Pen, French MEP, the report Pilar Del Castillo Vera "Single European Electronic Communications Market"I voted with my colleagues, the texts in the European Parliament to defend freedom and neutrality in particular on the internet. I considered it my duty to preserve this rare area of ??freedom of expression with respect to requirements, at least suspicious of certain lobbies telecom operators and their allies-Europeans within the Industry Committee " ".
It is very important to affirm our principles relating to the defense of our freedoms against the abuses observed across the Atlantic and around the world, both in terms of scandals widespread surveillance of citizens and public actors, Dangerous agreements between multinationals.
Membership in the Department of State's International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) is open to representatives of U.S. government agencies; representatives of recognized operating agencies, scientific or industrial organizations that are in engaged in telecommunications; and individuals or representatives of any other entity with an interest in telecommunications and information policy matters. There is no citizenship requirement; however, anyone considering membership should be aware that the Foreign Agent Registration Act requires every agent of a foreign principal, not otherwise exempt, to register with the Department of Justice.
The Department of State has established an ITAC email list as a convenient means of communication. The purpose of the ITAC email list is to announce ITAC meetings, to announce U.S. preparations for participation in international meetings, to distribute documents of general interest (e.g., the agenda for the ITAC meetings, an ITU Circular Letter announcing a meeting, etc.), and for the Department to share information of general interest relevant to fulfilling the purpose of the ITAC. The e-mail list may also be used from time to time to solicit the views of ITAC members on discrete issues, but the committee's official business takes place through meetings. Information on the ITAC email list is not for publication.
The Department will consider all those on the ITAC e-mail list to be members of the advisory committee. Membership—and thus use of the e-mail list—is at the Department's discretion. Members of federal advisory committees are either representatives of specified entities or special government employees. Individual members (representing "themselves") cannot be a member of an advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Therefore, anyone who wishes to be included/remain on the ITAC list must provide not only his or her name, but also the company, organization, or community that he or she is representing. Individuals or representatives of organizations that do not participate as members of the ITAC may nonetheless attend ITAC meetings and share their perspectives. All ITAC meetings are announced and open to the public.
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