Comcast – Network Neutrality
WHEREAS
A free and open Internet is critical to our nation’s economy and society.
To maintain its many benefits, broad non-discrimination principles must be vigorously applied to the fastest-growing segment of the Internet – wireless broadband networks.
These non-discrimination principles are commonly referred to as “network neutrality.” According to the Congressional Research Service, network neutrality seeks “to ensure equal access and non-discriminatory treatment” for all content.
Network neutrality rules are needed to “facilitate the growth of the Internet and give private companies the correct incentives to continue investing in this significantly valuable good,” according to a 2010 report by the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law, which finds that an open Internet accounts for billions of dollars of economic value for Americans.
The principle of non-discrimination has been an engine for economic growth, empowering millions of America’s small and medium-sized businesses through direct access to the Internet. Musicians and creative artists rely on open Internet principles, for access to audiences.
Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Chairman Genachowski has said that a free and open Internet must play a critical role in solving the “great challenges [we face] as a nation right now, including health care, education, energy, and public safety.”
Widespread support of network neutrality is demonstrated by letters to the FCC from thousands of organizations including the American Library Association, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Consumer Federation of America.
Open Internet policies on wireless networks have particular importance for minority and economically disadvantaged communities. People of color access the Internet via cell phones at a much greater rate than their white counterparts, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. In 2010, Pew reported, only 33% of whites accessed the Internet on cell phones compared to 51% of English-speaking Latinos and 46% of African Americans; 30% of whites sent or received e-mail on cell phones compared to 47% of Latinos and 41% of African-Americans.
“The digital freedoms at stake are a 21st century civil rights issue,” says Colorofchange.org, an organization representing black Americans. Network neutrality on wireless networks is essential “to avoid unintentionally treating communities of color, people living in rural areas, and the poor as second-class digital citizens,” according to an FCC filing by Latinos for Internet Freedom and a coalition of over 150 organizations representing the poor and communities of color.
Our Company has operated with de facto network neutrality policies for many years. With network neutrality, we believe content innovation will prosper, furthering demand for ubiquitous high-speed Internet access on wireless networks. Conversely, failure to embrace non-discrimination principles will open our Company to potential competitive, legal and reputational risk.
RESOLVED
Shareholders request the company publicly commit to market and sell only wireless broadband products which abide by Internet network neutrality principles – i.e., operate a neutral network with neutral routing along the company’s wireless infrastructure such that the company does not privilege, degrade or prioritize any packet transmitted over its wireless infrastructure based on its source, ownership or destination
Comcast – Free & Open Internet
WHEREAS
The Internet is becoming the defining infrastructure of our economy and society in the 21st century. Its potential to open new markets for commerce, new venues for cultural expression and new modalities of civic engagement is without historic parallel.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) serve as gatekeepers to this infrastructure: providing access, managing traffic, insuring communication, and forging rules that shape, enable and limit the public’s use of the Internet.
As such, ISPs have a weighty responsibility in devising network management practices. ISPs must give far-ranging thought to how these practices serve to promote–or inhibit–the public’s participation in the economy and in civil society.
Of fundamental concern is the effect ISPs’ network management practices have on public expectations of privacy and freedom of expression on the Internet.
- More than 211 million Americans–70% of the U.S. population–now use the Internet;
- The Internet serves as an engine of opportunity for social, cultural and civic participation in society;
- 46% of Americans report they have used the internet, e-mail or text messaging to participate in the 2008 political process;
- The Internet yields significant economic benefits to society, with online US retailing revenues – only one gauge of e-commerce – exceeding $200 billion in 2008;
- The Internet plays a critical role in addressing societal challenges such as provision of health care, with over 8 million Americans looking for health information online each day;
- 72% of Americans are concerned that their online behaviors are being tracked and profiled by companies;
- 53% of Americans are uncomfortable with companies using their email content or browsing history to send relevant ads;
- 54% of Americans are uncomfortable with third parties collecting information about their online behavior;
- Our Company provides Internet access to a very large number of subscribers and is considered a leading ISP;
- Our Company’s network management practices have come under public scrutiny by consumer and civil liberties groups, regulatory authorities and shareholders.
- Class action lawsuits in several states are challenging the propriety of ISPs’ network management practices;
- Internet network management is a significant public policy issue; failure to fully and publicly address this issue poses potential competitive, legal and reputational harm to our Company;
- Any perceived compromise by ISPs of public expectations of privacy and freedom of expression on the Internet could have a chilling effect on the use of the Internet and detrimental effects on society.
RESOLVED
The shareholders request that the Board of Directors prepare a report, excluding proprietary and confidential information, and to be made available to shareholders no later than November 30,2009, examining the effects of the company’s Internet network management practices in the context of the significant public policy concerns regarding the public’s expectations of privacy and freedom of expression on the Internet.
Open MIC, founded by Trillium, files shareholder resolutions with 10 Internet Service Providers
Professor Jeffery Rosen recently wrote in the New York Times, “As more and more speech migrates online, to blogs and social-networking sites and the like, the ultimate power to decide who has an opportunity to be heard, and what we may say, lies increasingly with Internet service providers, search engines and other Internet companies…”
Members of a coalition of investors, lead by Trillium, have filed shareholder resolutions with 10 publicly-held U.S. providers of Internet access, urging corporate boards to report on the impact of the companies’ Internet network management practices on public expectations of freedom of expression and privacy.
The investor coalition includes the New York City Pension Funds and socially responsible investment firms Boston Common Asset Management, Calvert Asset Management Company, Domini Social Investments, Harrington Investments and As You Sow.
Open MIC ISP Press Release 01-28-09
Open MIC Internet Project Briefing December, 2008
Seattle Times Publishes Op-Ed by Open MIC and Trillium
The Seattle Times published an Op-Ed by Open MIC and Trillium Asset Management Corporation: “FCC shouldn’t tolerate abuses by Internet’s corporate gatekeepers.”
The Op-Ed challenges Comcast, AT&T and a host of other Internet Service Providers for their secretive, invasive and deceptive practices that compromise consumers’ privacy and freedom of expression.
To read the article, click here http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008114549_openoped15.html
Freedom of Expression at Risk
On December 20, 2007, The Seattle Times published an op-ed by Trillium Asset Management Corporation Vice President Farnum Brown and Michael Connor, the executive director of Open Mic, a nonprofit working to promote a vibrant, diverse media ecosystem through market-based solutions. Brown and Connor demanded:
COMCAST, Verizon, and AT&T need to come clean.
Those three – and other cable and telephone companies – need to disclose exactly how they decide to restrict the freedom of expression of hundreds of millions of Americans. They need to explain exactly how they decide to limit Americans’ access to the Internet and other information services. As consumers, investors and citizens, we have a right to know.
Click here to read more…
