Google and YouTube would apparently be limited to the ‘public’ internet, and mobile broadband falls outside the purview of the proposal.  Opposing groups immediately questioned whether the private internet would start to crowd an underfunded, ignored public internet. And what does this mean for artists?  Comments are just trickling in, though Future of Music Coalition policy strategist Casey Rae-Hunter pointed to the need for greater regulatory backbone and definition - not a handshake between private companies.  “There is some question about how the so-called ‘public internet’ would continue to grow and develop alongside the ‘additional online services’ hinted at in the proposal,” Rae-Hunter offered.

Verizon-Google has issued its “regulatory framework” proposal for the internet, which, according to our friends at the Future of Music Coalition, has amplified the dialogue and debate about net neutrality, a subject about which we are all very concerned. FMC took the announcement as an opportunity to reiterate their basic stance on the open internet and musicians which you can read here.