Net Neutrality aka Network Neutrality or Internet Neutrality is meant to be a neutral internet, unbiased, and equal to all. On Dec 21 2010 the FCC made three rulings regarding this very idea. The tight voting, which will also need congressional approval are:

1) Internet-service providers will not be able to block legal applications or services
2) Providers will have to disclose their network management techniques in a push for transparency
3) Providers will not be able to “unfairly discriminate” against content

The rulings were cut along party lines and with a Democratic President in office and a Republican Congress, the spin and swagger from the politicos is in full swing. Considering the billions involved in internet control (or lack thereof) it’s a red hot issue and ambitious politicians and lobbyists are eager to be heard. But let’s stay away from their tussle for this post and look at what it actually means to folks who rely on the web for their income and information.

This ruling has no bearing on mobile phones as the FCC declared cell phone networks to be a separate issue. With the tremendous growth rate of mobile internet users, separating the two seems short sighted and counterproductive.  Along with leaving out the mobile market the rulings are ambiguous.

The order prohibits network providers from charging application and content providers for access to the network’s Internet service customers. However, it does provide the possibility of “paid prioritization” with a very high hurdle.

So, the FCC has laid out the hoops for the poodle show, only the next act involves lions. Broad band providers like Verizon and Time Warner have indicated a tier pricing system that could become a pay to play structure. They say if they pay for and maintain the lines, which costs billions, they should be able to charge what they like. That sounds fair in a free economy right? Google says Internet regulations will hinder if not halt innovation. They say whatever they touch on the internet they make better anyway, and they specifically point to YouTube. Who wants to stop innovation? Not me that’s for sure!

Then there’s the proverbial writing on the wall. Can we rely on the network providers to do the right thing? Would they see a problem with disallowing competition to even come through? Can we depend on them not to extort the mom and pop shops to financially compete with the fortune 500 for page rank?

That’s the conundrum, when you listen to the network providers you hear the word “free” and when you hear the government they heed the word “regulation”.  I don’t know about you, but I pay for my internet as is and don’t really want to pay more especially for a censored version. And when the government uses the word “regulation” I hear taxation.

I don’t know, I can’t make up my mind. Should the government oversee the internet or should we let the providers call the shots?

President Obama has appointed Karen Gordon Mills to take the top spot at the Small Business Administration (SBA). I had never heard of Karen Mills and I think that I’m going to be hearing quite a bit more about her so, I did some research. I’m genuinely interested in ‘where’ people come from because I believe you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their history. I did a little digging. Here’s what I found.

Karen Dale Gordon was born in 1950 to Ellen R. and Melvin J. Gordon. She is married to Barry Gordon (an attorney), who graduated in ’72 from Bowdoin College in Biochemistry and Government, got his PhD in biology from Syracuse University (“Cuse – Go Orange”), and got his JD from Columbia Law School in ’79. He is currently the president of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. They have 3 sons, William, Henry and George. Karen did her undergraduate work at Harvard in Economics in 1975 and got her MBA from Harvard Business School in 1977.

Karen’s father Melvin J. Gordon (88) has been the Chairman of the Board of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1962 and serves as its Chief Executive officer. Mr. Gordon serves as the President of HDI Investment Corp., a (Gordon) family investment company. He has been a Director of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1952. He serves as a Director of HDI Investment Corp.

Karen’s mother Ellen R. Gordon (76) has been President of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1978 and serves as Chief Operating Officer. Her father William Rubin originally bought the company from its founder, Austrian immigrant Leo Hirschfeld, in 1935. Mrs. Gordon is also a Vice President and Director of HDI Investment Corp. Prior to her election as President, Mrs. Gordon served as Senior Vice President of Tootsie Roll. Mrs. Gordon has been a director of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. since 1969 and is a Member of the Executive Committee. Mrs. Gordon has been a Director of Unilever – Bestfoods since 1991.

Tootsie Roll Industries is a top 1000 company and has been very good to the Gordons. Mr. & Mrs., have a reported and combined annual income + options of more than 8.4MM.

So, Karen comes from money (or candy), a lot of it. Is it any surprise then that she went into the Venture Capital industry? She has served as President of MMP Group, a private equity investor and advisor since 1993. From 1999 to 2007 she was a founding partner and a managing director of Solera Capital, a late-stage, ‘controlling interest’ VC firm with $250MM+ under management. “Our operating philosophy is to invest about $15-20 million in each deal and take a controlling interest,” noted Mills.” We like to be the capital that comes in to grow the business to the next level – build the next plant, make an acquisition, or expand the brand.” (…and then flip it and get our multiple.)

The media is reporting that Karen has taken a leadership role in the growth of more than 20 companies in the consumer products, food, distribution, textile and industrial component sectors since the mid 1980s. That’s less than 1 (one) deal per year. Not exactly aggressive lending by any stretch of the imagination. We’ll see how (if) that translates to her role with the SBA.

I am very hopeful that Karen can step up and reform a government agency that is in desperate need of leadership. That she can see her way clear to developing conscientious funding policy, developing flexible and easy to access funding for the majority of small businesses, not the sweetheart deals that she is used to working with in her current life.

At this point, the jury is still out on Karen Mills!