Facebook and Twitter CEOs agree on net neutrality
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 20 October 2009, 15:01 IST   |    1 Comments
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Facebook and Twitter CEOs agree on net neutrality
Bangalore: The CEOs of about 24 major technology companies including Facebook and Twitter have supported the initiative of net neutrality rules to the Federal Communications Commission in a letter. A number of House Democrats have already voiced their concern with the upcoming rule. "We believe a process that results in common sense baseline rules is critical to ensuring that the Internet remains a key engine of economic growth, innovation, and global competitiveness," the CEOs wrote under the auspices of the Open Internet Coalition to Julius Genachowski, Chairman, FCC, reports PC World. These executives include; Evan Williams, Co-Founder, Twitter; Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook; John Donahoe, CEO, eBay; and Steve Chan, Founder, YouTube. Also, Google CEO Eric Schmidt who has long supported net neutrality signed the letter. "An open Internet fuels a competitive and efficient marketplace, where consumers make the ultimate choices about which products succeed and which fail. This allows businesses of all sizes, from the smallest startup to the larger corporations, to compete, yielding maximum economic growth and opportunity," the executives wrote. The FCC is expected to introduce the formal rules regarding the net neutrality at its October meeting. Net neutrality is the concept that everyone should have equal access to the internet. In September, Genachowski proposed some additions in its internet policy principles. The first rule would prevent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from discriminating against particular internet content or applications, while allowing for reasonable network management. It would also ensure that ISPs are transparent about network management. The executives said that the openness of the internet has "fueled an unprecedented era of economic growth and creativity" and that these rules will help to protect that. The detractors such as some telecom companies and the wireless industry make a similar argument, but they say that an FCC rulemaking might actually repress innovation. Other companies that signed the letter include Amazon.com, Digg, LinkedIn, OpenDNS, Zynga, Vuze, Skype, Flickr, Cbeyond, Craigslist, EchoStar Corporation, Mozilla Corporation, Sony Electronics, XO Communications, Expedia, IAC, One Communications, and TiVo.

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