Sensing the new climate, Mr. Martin in his opening statement steered clear of every difficult issue facing the commission by making no mention of the debate over the Internet discrimination legislation, indecency standards, the media ownership rules, universal service fees paid by telephone consumers, or the agency’s policies on consolidation in the telephone industry. (The New York Times)
Here's Martin's belief that you can draw sharp lines between different online "services." This is possible only if you think of the internet as a content delivery supply chain:The FCC chairman's well-known aversion to sweeping Net neutrality regulations drew sharp questions from Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), one of the chief sponsors of a bill that would require network operators to follow nondiscrimination rules. By failing to include network operators in the scope of nondiscrimination requirements traditionally placed on telephone companies, "does that mean you favor discrimination?" he asked.
Martin said he might be able to handle such a requirement if nondiscrimination meant, "if you offer a service to one, you have to offer that same service to all." (CNET News.com)
And this odd bit:
One Republican senator, who vowed recently to propose limits on the FCC's authority to require so-called technology mandates like the "broadcast flag" copy protection scheme proposed for digital television, admitted he was somewhat unprepared to face the regulators--although it wasn't clear whether he was being completely serious.
"My staff had come up with a list of highly
confrontational questions, but I somehow misplaced them this morning,"
said Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, adding that he promised to "make
it up to (the commissioners) next time." (Instead, he peppered the
regulators with questions about the technicalities of a seemingly
uncontroversial topic: making "white spaces"--that is, unused chunks
of spectrum that rest between TV channels--available for potential unlicensed
use by wireless providers.)
(CNET News.com)