The U.S. Conference of Mayors resolution backing a...

The U.S. Conference of Mayors resolution backing a “free and open internet” (CD June 24 p2) appears to be “much more like a political document than a serious policy statement,” said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, by email Monday. “I don’t imagine it will have a significant amount of impact given that so many people are jumping unreflexively on the ‘net neutrality, motherhood, and apple pie bandwagon.'” The resolution “seems internally contradictory and not fully thought out,” Atkinson said, with the mayors saying on one hand, they “support reasonable network management but say that all Internet traffic should be treated the same. They say that carriers have not resorted to prioritization for users who can afford to pay the most. What is paying more for higher speed tiers if not that?"