Net Neutrality
Apr 27th, 2006 at 12:08 pm by Susie
The proposal to allow different pricing tiers of internet service passed the committee vote yesterday:
Supporters of the House telecom bill said it would make data discrimination illegal and argued that no company was levying tolls anyway. Committee Chairman Joe L. Barton (R-Texas), the main sponsor of the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006, promised to support a legislative fix if problems arose.
But leading Internet companies, including Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc., San Jose-based Ebay Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash., do not want to take that chance. They have been pressing for strong rules to guarantee neutral treatment of data over the Internet. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corp. joined the group Tuesday.
On Monday, a variety of grass-roots organizations — including MoveOn.org Civic Action, Common Cause, Gun Owners of America and the Parents Television Council — launched Savetheinternet.com to press for Net neutrality rules. The group said 500 blogs had linked to the site and more than 250,000 people had signed a petition to the Energy and Commerce Committee.
“It comes down to trust,” Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, a coalition member, told reporters in a conference call.
Tune in to C-Span to watch Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) filibustering until the Senate agrees to vote on his amendment which would end all subsidies to the oil industry when oil price is over $55 a barrel.