CWA Calls On FCC To Include Web Companies In Internet Rule

The Communications Workers of America is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to include Web companies like Google in new Internet rules, signaling increasing pressure on regulators to tread carefully in imposing the regulations. The proposed open Internet rule is slated for an FCC vote next week. The rule would prevent Internet service providers from selectively blocking or slowing certain Web content, and would require providers to disclose how they manage their networks. In a letter sent to the FCC Thursday, CWA said the rule's principles on competition and transparency should apply to all Internet participants, "including network providers, application and service providers, and content providers." AT&T and other Internet service providers are concerned that the Network Neutrality rules now circulating at the FCC will apply only to them and not firms like Google. CWA pointed out that Google employs 10 times fewer people than AT&T and invests significantly less than AT&T in broadband infrastructure. CWA has some 300,000 members that are employees of telecom firms like AT&T and Verizon as well as network manufacturers like Alcatel-Lucent. CWA Telecommunications Policy Director Debbie Goldman said the union needed to get in front of the net neutrality debate before the FCC rule becomes a hindrance to private investment.