Today’s Los Angeles Times has an article on how net neutrality proposals are causing deep concern among songwriters and other entertainers. The fear is that today’s Congressional proposals will undercut the “smart network” technologies necessary to reduce illegal online activity, including copyright infringement, that have devastated the music community in recent years.

Draw your own conclusions but for our part, the evidence to back up the concern about illegal activity is overwhelming.

And since we’re on the subject, here’s a recent reminder of Net neutrality’s real stakes from Rick Carnes at the Songwriters Guild of America:

“The massive amount of copyright piracy taking place on the Internet is killing the songwriting profession. If a content neutral technological fix can be instituted to help curtail this horrendous situation, we are all for it. Without the adequate means and the will to protect copyrighted works on the Internet, the incentive to create will be completely destroyed. And our culture – and the marketplace of ideas that the Constitution seeks to foster – will be eviscerated along with it.”

For Carnes’ excellent testimony to Congress last March, click here.

Today, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee held a full committee hearing on “The Future of the Internet.” In response, the Hands Off the Internet coalition issued the following statement:

“Chairman Martin’s testimony restored a healthy dose of reality to the debate over network management on the Internet. Today’s new ‘smart network’ technology is one of the best ways to improve Net users’ online experience, including faster and more affordable access while reducing online dangers.

“No question, consumers deserve safeguards to access legal websites and other information. But it’s often overlooked that they already have this protection and as the Chairman’s testimony shows, markets, public opinion, and FCC oversight are working to protect the consumer without the unintended consequences of a massive new regulatory scheme.”

The Hands Off the Internet coalition is a Washington, DC-based coalition of companies and nonprofit organizations that believes the Internet has flourished because government has not tried to regulate it. Members include Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Qwest, 3M, the National Association of Manufacturers, FiberControl, and Cinergy Communications. Nonprofit members include Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Black Chamber of Commerce.

BusinessWeek’s tech guru Steve Wildstrom writes a telling post on net neutrality.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission held a public hearing at Stanford University on the Internet and network management. In response, the Hands Off the Internet coalition (HandsOff.org) released the following statement:

“Network management is indispensable to make the Internet safer and more enjoyable and that point seemed to resonate with the Commissioners. The Commissioners also seemed receptive to evidence that smart networks are crucial to the continued deployment of affordable broadband.

“Hopefully, today’s hearing helped better focus the policy debate on a more realistic appreciation of the expense and complexity necessary for today’s Internet.”

The Hands Off the Internet coalition is a Washington, DC-based coalition of companies and nonprofit organizations that believes the Internet has flourished because government has not tried to regulate it. Members include Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Qwest, 3M, the National Association of Manufacturers, FiberControl, and Cinergy Communications. Nonprofit members include Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Black Chamber of Commerce.

In a little covered court decision last week, Judge James Zagel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois sided with Comcast in a case brought by e360Insight, saying the cable company acted in good faith in trying to block what it deemed was spam from reaching subscribers.

We’re struck by the similarities between the arguments made by the plaintiff (characterized as a “spammer” in the judges ruling) and the folks over at Save the Internet. What with all those nasty words like, “manage,” “block,” and “filter” you’d think Save the Internet would be laying siege to the courthouse…but alas, all is quiet.

This episode has us here at Hands Off wondering, since Save the Internet believes all bits are equal, when will they launch their campaign to defend the “rights” of spammers?

In case you missed it, The Wall Street Journal just weighed in on the Comcast-BitTorrent resolution. You can read the whole thing here but this line is the clincher:

Government’s role here, properly understood, is not to tell Comcast how to manage its network. Rather, it is to make sure consumers have alternatives to Comcast if they are unhappy with their Internet service.

When you hear the Net Neutrality folks claim that America is lagging the world in broadband adoption, remember this.

So what’s driving America’s progress in broadband deployment? For starters, the continued flood of broadband investment ($24 billion this year alone, according to the TIA) and the rapid deployment of “smart” networking technology are obviously having an impact.

Equally important, look at one of the key issues driving this investment: federal regulations don’t hamstring emerging technology. But with Net neutrality undermining that restraint, it also threatens the country’s progress in deploying affordable new broadband.

Yes, there’s much more to be done but as the Insead report shows, a light touch regulation is one of the factors that can help keep us on the right track