• ReadWriteWeb, Monday, August 9, 2010 2:39 PM

Google and Verizon hosted a press call on Monday to propose Internet network transparency and FCC enforcement with up to $2 million fines for network providers that engage in anti-competitive measures. As ReadWriteWeb explains, the joint legislative framework proposal "is the exact opposite of what reports last week speculated the companies were working on," while "broadband specialists and other press are very skeptical."

Under the proposal, the General Accounting Office would report yearly to congress about how well the program is working. Verizon said the company was concerned that too many rules up front could infringe on its ability to optimize the network for performance, but that some rules are clearly needed and transparency is important. "There will be no prioritization of traffic from Google over the internet, period," Verizon's CEO Ivan Seidenberg said on the call. "No paid prioritization of traffic over the public internet." In theory, as ReadWriteWeb notes, private networks could be built to sell special services, but Google's Schmidt said that Google will not do that. "We like the public internet," Schmidt said on the call, "and we intend to use it." Meanwhile, "Press cynicism runs deep, though, and questions about loopholes and dark hidden intentions are still being asked," ReadWriteWeb adds.

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