CCIA Files FCC Comments Supporting Lightsquared's Proposed Wholesale National Wireless Network
On Monday CCIA filed Reply Comments
with the FCC in support of
LightSquared’s proposal to begin deployment of its nationwide wholesale 4G LTE
network. LightSquared’s wholesale
wireless network, once deployed, would expand high-speed broadband access to
millions of unserved Americans, make an additional 40 MHz of wireless spectrum
available for mobile broadband, spur economic growth and job creation, and increase competition in the wireless marketplace.
The proposal,
published by Switzerland’s Minister of Justice
and Police, Simonetta Sommaruga, would provide law enforcement agencies with
unprecedented authority to collect personal information and intercept Internet
traffic. By extending the scope of the existing law to include all Internet
providers offering a public service “on the basis of IP technology”, including
foreign IP addresses, the proposed modifications would create substantial legal
uncertainty for Internet intermediaries operating in Switzerland and conflicts
of law for those outside.
Last Friday, the Main Street Fairness Act was introduced in the Senate by Senator Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and in the House by Congressman John Conyers, D-Mich. The bill would allow states that have signed onto the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement to require out-of-state retailers to collect sales and use taxes on purchases made to residents of their states -- regardless of physical presence.
CCIA opposes any legislation that burdens Internet retailers with the added role of acting as tax collection agencies across thousands of tax jurisdictions. Such measures effectively force electronic commerce to conform to a tax framework established on geographic location and physical presence, negating the advantages and benefits derived from innovation.
When CCIA recently released the 2011 iteration of Fair Use in the U.S. Economy, it was the second update of that report – the first having been released four years ago, as is chronicled on CCIA’s fair use page. The purpose of the report is to quantifiably demonstrate the U.S. economic contribution of industries relying on fair use, with measured criteria like GDP and employment, applying the same WIPO methodology often used to allege the costs of copyright piracy.
