FCC Playing the Wrong Tune: New Opposition to Net Neutrality
BigGovernment.com
11/28/2009
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski is facing fresh opposition in his push for controversial “net neutrality” rules, it emerged Monday.
The Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) announced that its President, Rick Carnes, and well-known songwriters Phil Galdston and Gordon Chambers, had recently testified before the New York City Council in opposition to a resolution expressing support for net neutrality. The trio, each prominent figures within the arts community, are concerned that net neutrality rules would do little combat online music piracy.
According to an SGA release, “Net Neutrality rules… would restrain Internet service providers from fighting illegal file sharing on their networks.” Furthermore, according to the release, “70% of the volume of traffic on broadband networks is Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing, generated by 5% of network users. An astonishing 90% of such traffic represents stealing of copyrighted works.” The SGA blames such file sharing for noteworthy declines in the songwriting industry, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data as well as anecdotal evidence obtained by Carnes himself. According to Carnes, “Every major music publisher tells me they have laid off at least half, and sometimes all, of their songwriters.”
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