Ted Stevens, grandfather of net neutrality, dies as Internet debate reemerges

The former Alaskan senator who once described the Internet as "a series of tubes" is confirmed dead in a plane crash there.

Ted Stevens' appearance in the news now happens to synchronize with increasing discussions of one of the topics he is best known for (on the Internet, anyway).

Stevens single-handedly brought the topic of net neutrality to a more mainstream audience several years ago. Not because he understood it, necessarily.

"It's not a big truck," Stevens said of the Web in a 2006 speech to the Senate. He also anecdotally described how "an Internet was sent by my staff," and didn't arrive until days later.

"Why?" he asked rhetorically. "Because it got tangled up with all these things they've got going on the Internet commercially."

Those videos, which are really just a static picture of Stevens' face along with the audio of that speech, have accumulated millions of hits on YouTube. One "techno remix" of the speech alone has ...

... been viewed nearly 4 million times.

Net neutrality is the idea that all data on the Web are created equal. It dictates that Internet service providers cannot favor certain types of content, say, video-conferencing, over others, such as e-mail. The Federal Communications Commission has expressed support for neutrality legislation in the past.

But Verizon Wireless and Google took an opposing stance last week, one that Stevens argued so ineloquently four years ago. The two Internet giants proposed a plan that would allow providers to slow or halt access to channels it believes are being used for illegal file swapping, as well as offer subscriptions for speedier access to what a provider deems premium content.

Not surprisingly, the FCC was none too pleased with the proposal, which would cut out that government body as a Web regulator. In a statement FCC Commissioner Michael Copps suggested the FCC should be in charge of discussions "to guarantee an open Internet now and forever, and to put the interests of consumers in front of the interests of giant corporations."

Stevens left the Senate with a scarred record, after he was found guilty of seven counts of making false statements; however, those charges and the indictment were later dismissed due to prosecutorial misconduct.

That and four decades in office aside, Stevens may go down foremost as the person who popularized the abstract but important topic of net neutrality -- albeit in a clumsy way.

-- Mark Milian

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Comments

[Luke]

It's always sad when someone passes away. As for Ted Stevens the consolation lies in him being already of age and having enjoyed a senator tenure that is the longest in US political history. Still, our prayers are with the family he leaves behind. May he rest in peace.

[Ted]

This is horribly distasteful that the man died a couple of hours ago, and that has to be turned into an advertisement for net neutrality.

The FCC has no right to butt into the internet.

[Elena]

Shame on you. This was a a man, not a punch line. This is in incredibly poor taste to post just hours after his death. You have given a bad name to the LA Times.

[Leslie]

Ted Stevens was the longest-ever sitting Republican senator, he brought billions home to the State of Alaska, was responsible for facilitating much of the State's infrastructure and fought hard for Alaskans to control their natural resources.

To lead an obit blog with a reference to an internet meme is distasteful and asinine.

[Alan]

Condolences to Stevens family.

And to the other commenter: the FCC has every right to "butt into the internet" in pro-consumer ways. And if it doesn't, it dang well should, and eventually will.

[Jani]

@Ted: No FCC, but companies can butt in and limit your free speech?

Like when AT&T edited out one line of a Pearl Jam song during a streaming concert that people paid to hear, the one line being a single comment about George Bush? Like when Sprint quit transmitting e-mail messages from Catholic Relief charities to its donors who gave via text message in response to the Haiti earthquake, saying that it didn't know if its own customer, Catholic Charities, should be doing that. Or when Verizon stopped e-mail messages that people requested from NARAL, messages that those people requested from Sprint's own client NARAL? Like how Comcast filled public hearings about net neutrality a couple of months ago with paid actors so the public couldn't get in -- and you don't question authority of a company that so fears that what they're doing isn't palatable that they keep the public out?

The big telecommunications companies are already editing your life for you, Ted. When are you going to wake up and wish you had given influence to someone who could have edited them? This is the big first amendment argument of our lifetime -- you better hope someone looks out for your right to see, hear and buy what you want.

[Bird with the Word]

sensoring whistleblowers... mmhm, I rather not have to look towards other means of sharing what I have to say...

[los angeles]

All most had me with the title. Ted Stevens has aways been against anything that would be beneficial to the common citizen. I never saw that video before now, its amazing this guy was ever in charge of making laws.