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HR 2902 Frequently Asked Questions & Thoughts

Phillip Dampier June 17, 2009 Data Caps, Editorial & Site News, Public Policy & Gov't 6 Comments

I know everyone will have questions about HR 2902, the bill introduced this morning by Rep. Eric Massa.  We’ve been working with Free Press and Eric’s staff for the past several weeks behind the scenes on this legislation, and there are some things that I am certain our readers will be asking about, so before things get scattered across multiple articles, I am creating this one to take questions in the comment section and also to update people on answers on an ongoing basis.

I also want readers to understand there are reasons why I may not be able to answer certain questions completely.  In some cases, it’s because I don’t know the answer, but I will try and find one.  For some others, please trust my judgment and that of the congressman.  There are reasons for doing certain things in certain ways.  I’ve been just as outspoken with the congressman’s office as I’ve been here.  They know the mission statement for our site, and our issues.

Q. Why does HR 2902 not simply ban tiered pricing outright and who decides what “unreasonable” pricing means?

A. Legislation must not only become law but also withstand legal scrutiny.  The bill is designed to accomplish what needs to be done – preventing providers from launching Internet Overcharging schemes that, upon review by the appropriate agencies, are simply economically unjustified.  These decisions are not arbitrary — there are mechanisms and measurements that take into account provider costs and what they then try to turn around and charge us.

Q. Why does the legislation not speak directly about usage caps?

A. It covers them in a roundabout way, and there are some additional reasons for structuring the language this way.  Believe me when I say this was not an issue we’d forget about, considering this site was founded on that issue, even before nonsensical tiered overcharging schemes showed up.  Stop the Cap! opposes usage caps, period.

Q. Why does the bill exempt small providers with less than 2,000,000 customers?

A. Until the broadband stimulus package begins to help guarantee reasonable access and prices for all Americans, small providers, often in rural communities, have to find wholesale broadband access at significantly higher expense than major providers do.  A number of those providers, including those run by municipalities, are with us on most of our issues, but they confront additional challenges that simply make it easier to exclude them from the language at this time.  When access finally becomes inexpensive and plentiful from coast to coast, providers will find few justifications to need an exemption in the first place.  Stop the Cap! fully supports major expansions in rural broadband to provide people living in small communities with the same kinds of access those of us in more urban areas enjoy, at comparable prices and speeds.

Q. Does the bill address Net Neutrality issues?

A. Predominately from the perspective of tiered pricing, and its side effect of discouraging use of your Internet service out of fear of going over your “allowance.”  Net Neutrality is a critically important issue that will need to be addressed by Congress and regulators.  Stop the Cap! will be a part of that fight.  Our current concerns are more targeted and immediate — while the Re-Education campaign to promote Internet Overcharging schemes continues, we felt it was critical to “stop this train before it ever reaches the station.”  Otherwise, why worry about Net Neutrality at all if your provider increases your rates 300% and you can’t afford to be online in the first place?

As other legislative initiatives become apparent, we’ll issue Calls to Action on those as well.  Net Neutrality and Internet Overcharging are two issues that require constant vigilance.  One is good, the other very bad.

Q. What do we, as readers have to do next?

A. Stop the Cap!, Congressman Massa, and Free Press have done our part, now you MUST do yours.  We’ve updated the Take Action! section with specific step by step instructions on how to move this bill forward, starting with getting co-sponsors, critical for the bill’s chances.  Every American needs to get on the phone today.  After you hang up, also take a minute and fill out this form from Free Press.  Remember, phone calls to a congressional office deliver the most powerful impact.  Written letters and faxes get attention as well, but send mailed letters to one of the district offices nearest you instead of Washington.  Security precautions can cause substantial delays because of mail screening procedures in the nation’s capital.  Residents within a congressional district can also e-mail their member of Congress through a representative’s web page.  Read the Take Action! section for complete instructions.

Then, have you thanked Rep. Massa?  Not only should you send him a message of thanks (district office contact information follows), but we also need to recognize he has a target on his back from powerful special interests that will want him out of office.  Stop the Cap! will have a contribution link up shortly to help us help him stay in office, representing our interests.  We support those who support us!  More details on that later.

If you believe in the work Stop the Cap! is doing, help us pay our bills as well.  The Paypal link on the right helps us “keep the lights on,” and will help our outreach efforts to gain support for this legislation.  We’re not funded by anyone but ordinary consumers (and me out of my own pocket, of course).  We only answer to each other.

Congressman Eric Massa

Washington DC Office
Phone: (202) 225-3161
Fax: (202) 226-6599

Corning District Office
89 W. Market Street
Corning, NY 14830
Phone: (607) 654-7566
Fax: (607) 654-7568

Olean District Office
317 North Union Street
Olean, NY 14760
Phone: (716) 372-2090
Fax: (716) 372-2869

Pittsford District Office
1 Grove St
Suite 101
Pittsford, NY 14534
Phone: (585) 218-0040
Fax: (585) 218-0053

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Jim
Jim
14 years ago

In the case of Time Warner Cable they’re trying to make access to internet video and VOIP services prohibitively expensive to prevent competition to their own cable TV and VOIP services. These anti competitive actions are (most likely) already illegal today. Why do we need another law that makes an illegal activity more illegal?

Jeff
Jeff
14 years ago
Reply to  Jim

Hey Jim,
If it’s already illegal – well just try and get someone to arrest WTC. Which law is violated? And who is to enforce it? It’s not like the PSC, the FCC, the FTC, the state attorney general, the US attorney general are UNAWARE of the situation. Many of us have written to them to complain. But as far as they’re concerned it’s “not my problem”.

Jim
Jim
14 years ago
Reply to  Jeff

Time Warner Cable and other cable companies who also provide broadband internet services have said they’re afraid of competing with internet video services. TWC’s plan to make extremely low usage caps and exorbitant overage fees is their method of preventing competition. Also the more blatantly illegal activity is with their VOIP service. TWC has specifically said their own VOIP service will not be counted against a user’s cap, but any competing services (Skype, Vonage, etc..) will count against a user’s cap. To answer your question about what laws (I believe) they’re violating – the US Antitrust laws that you can… Read more »

JM
JM
14 years ago
Reply to  Jim

Simplistic non legal analysis… predatory pricing – I had thought this is more the other side, i.e. “dumping” by creating an artificially lower price, could be wrong though. tying – you are essentially tied to your TWC phone service since the traffic for a Vonage competitor would be capped and “gas gauged” price gouging – assuming they keep the proposed caps, I’d say it is. As we all know, the data transfer cap with a large number of websites would be affected by this monopolistic behavior. Not to mention just installing vendor-provided patches for operating system software that can range… Read more »

Lummox JR
Lummox JR
14 years ago

Antitrust actions are difficult to prosecute successfully (see also Microsoft) and it takes a long time to get the ball rolling on them. A more narrowly defined law that deals with a very specific form of abuse can not only be much easier to enforce, but it also holds every company to task instead of the ones that merely get too big for their britches. I’d rather have a law defending net neutrality than rely on existing antitrust mechanisms to lumber into a fight with an unsatisfying result that takes years to resolve.

George Pradarits
George Pradarits
14 years ago

Eric Massa [D-NY] has brought forth a bill HR 2902 whereby he wants the Federal Trade Commission to look into regulating what the providers can charge for interenet service. Being 82 years old and paying what I am, if they increase costs again I will have to give up the use of the internet . Seems everyone is trying their hand to come up with ideas to squeeze the joy out of living. Even the gas has gone up over a dollar a gallon since the beginning of the year.My old car sits idle most of the time. I was… Read more »

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