AT&T's Past Dominates Broadband's Future in FCC Comments

[Commentary] Who says there is no cosmic irony in the bland world of telecom? On the day after thousands and thousands of pages were filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on a new national broadband plan, General Motors announced its new post-bankruptcy chairman - Ed Whitacre, the former chairman of AT&T. It was Whitacre who set off the Great Net Neutrality Storm of 2005-2006, when he took control of the Internet on behalf of AT&T, putting forth the unique view of the world that Google, Yahoo and other Internet companies were using his company's telecommunications network "for free," and he wasn't going to allow that. The fact that those, and many other, companies were paying millions of dollars for telecommunications didn't seem to matter. The issue was one of control - Whitacre had it, and he wasn't going to give it up without a fight. Internet service providers still want control over users and how users employ networks. Public Knowledge, Free Press, Consumer Federation of America/Consumers Union and others want to reverse course and turn back to the pre-2005 days, when thousands of Internet Service Providers flourished, when the Internet was developed, to make sure that the Internet remains free of discrimination and control (not management, control. There is a difference.) Is it regulation? Yes. Has it proven to support and give opportunities to entrepreneurs and developers? You bet. That's the better idea.