Another Net Neutrality Bill Pushed

Via Computerworld -

February 13, 2008 (Reuters) A senior lawmaker said on Wednesday that he had introduced legislation designed to prevent broadband Internet providers from "unreasonably" interfering with subscribers' access to content.

The bill offered by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is the latest to raise concerns about Net neutrality, an issue that pits open-Internet advocates against some service providers such as Comcast Corp., which say they need to take reasonable steps to manage traffic on their networks.

Markey, chairman of a House subcommittee on the Internet, said his bill was aimed at preserving the "open architecture" of the Internet and preventing content providers from being subjected to "unreasonably discriminatory practices by broadband network providers.

"Our goal is to ensure that the next generation of Internet innovators will have the same opportunity, the same unfettered access to Internet content, services and applications that fostered the developers of Yahoo, Netscape and Google," Markey said in a statement.

The bill also would require communications regulators to study the issue and hold public hearings.

Markey dismissed fears that his initiative was an attempt to "regulate" the Internet. "The bill contains no requirements for regulations on the Internet whatsoever," he said in another statement.

The Federal Communications Commission has been looking into complaints by consumer groups that Comcast favors or blocks certain types of content moving over its network.

In comments filed with the FCC on Tuesday night, Comcast responded by telling regulators that it uses reasonable measures to manage traffic moving over its network, since some of its customers overwhelm the network by using file-sharing applications like BitTorrent.

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Overall, I don't like the idea of having to create a Net Neutrality bill. I wish the idea could continue on without becoming formal law...but if we must pass a law to stop corporations from destroying this "unwritten law of the internet"...then so be it.

As Vint Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, has stated, "The Internet was designed with no gatekeepers over new content or services. A lightweight but enforceable neutrality rule is needed to ensure that the Internet continues to thrive."