EFF NN Reply Comments2
Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Preserving the Open Internet ) GN Docket No. 09-191 ) Broadband Industry Practices ) WC Docket No. 07-52 REPLY COMMENTS OF ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION March 4, 2010 The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) submits the following reply comments in response to the Commission’s October 22, 2009, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), FCC No. 09-93, in the above-captioned proceedings. On January 14, 2010, EFF filed comments with the Commission that, among other things, expressed the view that the Open Internet rules proposed by the NPRM should not treat copyright enforcement or any other ISP efforts to block, interfere, or discriminate based on the content of speech as “reasonable network management.”1 As we stated in those comments: Because the proposed regulations by their terms do not protect “unlawful content,” there is no need for an exception to permit ISPs to block such content. Any copyright enforcement exception to the six principles simply serves to excuse ISPs from using undisclosed, overbroad techniques that interfere with lawful activities, as long as they claim they were attempting to restrict unlawful ones. This “copyright loophole” has profound implications for the free speech rights of Internet users and cannot be reconciled with the stated purposes of the NPRM.2 1 See Comments of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, FCC GN Docket No. 09-191 (filed Jan. 14, 2010) (available at http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/nn/EFFNNcomments.pdf). 2 Id. at 11. 1 Contemporaneously, EFF invited members of the public to sign a petition to signify that they share these concerns.3 More than 7,071 individuals joined the petition, representing residents of every one of the 50 states.
[Show full text]