The problem with last year’s net neutrality debate was neutrality...
The problem with last year’s net neutrality debate was neutrality proponents’ demand that networks be dumb, defying the way communications technology is developing, said AT&T executive Robert Quinn on a panel Tues. sponsored by Wiley Rein. “Dumb networks is…
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a dumb idea,” said Quinn, senior vice president of the company, a net neutrality foe. “It’s all about whether you can put intelligence in the network,” said Jeff Campbell, Cisco director of technology and communications policy. “Some advocates have huge incentives [to assure] there’s no intelligence in the network,” he said. AT&T’s vehemence against having net neutrality conditions placed on its IPTV network played a big role when the FCC was weighing whether to approve the AT&T-BellSouth merger, Quinn said. “We said, ‘That’s a line that can’t be crossed; you can’t apply net neutrality to IPTV'” because it would hinder the company’s ability to draw investors, he told listeners: “If we had to include net neutrality, it would prohibit us from doing IPTV.”