Net neutrality gets a boost
p2p news / p2pnet: Bids to stop the likes of Verizon and AT&T from carving up the Net to suit their own purposes have come a step closer to becoming reality.
"By a 20-13 vote Thursday that partially followed party lines, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would require broadband providers to abide by strict Net neutrality principles, meaning that their networks must be operated in a ‘nondiscriminatory’ manner," says CNET News.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man who created the World Wide Web, said recently, "It must not discriminate against particular hardware, software, underlying network, language, culture, disability, or against particular types of data."
CNET says it’s a surprise victory for such as Amazon.com, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo who’d, "lobbied fiercely in the last few months for stricter laws to ensure that Verizon, AT&T and other broadband providers could not create a ‘fast lane’ reserved for video or other high-priority content of their choice."
But, "In an unusual twist, many members of the committee said they were voting for the legislation not because of strong concerns over Net neutrality – but instead because of a turf battle," says the story. "They said they were worried that a competing proposal already approved by a different committee last month would diminish their own influence in the future.
"That other bill, called the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement, or COPE, Act, says the Federal Communications Commission ’shall have exclusive authority’ to investigate violations of Net neutrality principles. It’s backed by Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican who heads the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and does not include strict Net neutrality mandates."
Also See:
CNET News – House panel votes for Net neutrality, May 25, 2006
not discriminate – A universal, neutral, platform, May 13, 2006
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May 30th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
As long as lobbying (buying of politicians and their parties) is legal, the large corporations will continue to try to own the web, after the next elections. Let us no be optimist fools.