To The Editor:

Ted Hearn’s Web story of Nov. 7 ("Sohn to Bloggers: Target Inouye") completely misinterpreted the remarks of Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge.

Earlier that day, there was a conference call hosted by Free Press for bloggers and activists to talk about the complaint that Public Knowledge, Free Press and others had filed with the Federal Communications Commission regarding Comcast’s throttling of certain types of Internet traffic.

In her remarks, and in reply to questions, Ms. Sohn said she was disappointed that neither of the committees of jurisdiction had held hearings on the Comcast situation, nor the other abuses of telecommunications carrier power that had been displayed in recent weeks. She criticized both Democrats and, more strongly, Republicans. In response to a question from a blogger about who should be targeted to receive email or other communications for a hearing, Ms. Sohn repeated the blogger’s use of the term "target," and then said that the chairmen of the relevant Senate and House Commerce committees and the committee members would be appropriate. She also said that if the readers of the bloggers were not represented by members of the committees, they should contact their Representatives and Senators anyway, because they could make the relevant inquiries with the colleagues who are on the Commerce committees.

That discussion was not referenced in the story. Instead, the story said Ms. Sohn urged bloggers to "target" Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, because his Committee "had failed to advance net neutrality legislation so far in 2007." Her reference in a quote that Chairman Inouye had done nothing "about it" in this Congress refers to the fact that the Committee has not dealt with the abuses of power ranging from the Comcast spoofing of traffic, or cutting off of subscribers, or of Verizon’s denial of texting access to NARAL Pro Choice America, among other incidents. Similarly, her reference to the lack of hearings "on anything" in the Senate referred to these incidents.

The statement that she "expressed disappointment in Capitol Hill Democrats, chiefly Inouye, for failing to hold hearings or move net neutrality aimed at cable and phone companies" is inaccurate. Her comments were directed toward the immediate environment of telecom company incidents.

Similarly, her reference that the House Telecom Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) "hasn’t held a hearing either" was in reference to these abuses. Hearn kindly instructed us that the Subcommittee held its first hearing on March 1, and even provided the witness list -- Sir Tim Berners-Lee. We are well aware the Subcommittee has held a comprehensive, impressive and informative set of hearings on basic Internet issues, ranging from Sir Tim’s testimony to a fascinating session on how we are falling behind the rest of the world. The Subcommittee has yet, however, to hold a hearing on the Comcast issue. That was the subject of her comment.
Sincerely,
Art Brodsky, Communications Director, Public Knowledge