House rejects Net neutrality rules
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6081882.html
The U.S. House of Representatives definitively rejected
the concept of Net neutrality on Thursday, dealing a
bitter blow to Internet companies like Amazon.com, eBay
and Google that had engaged in a last-minute lobbying campaign
to support it.
By a 269-152 vote that fell largely along party lines,
the House Republican leadership mustered enough votes
to reject a Democrat-backed amendment that would have
enshrined stiff Net neutrality regulations into federal law
and prevented broadband providers from treating some
Internet sites differently from others.
Of the 421 House members who participated in the vote
that took place around 6:30 p.m. PT, the vast majority of
Net neutrality supporters were Democrats.
Republicans represented most of the opposition.
The vote on the amendment (click for PDF) came after
nearly a full day of debate on the topic, which prominent
Democrats predicted would come to represent a turning point
in the history of the Internet.
"The future Sergey Brins, the future Marc Andreessens,
of Netscape and Google...are going to have to pay taxes"
to broadband providers, said Rep. Ed Markey, the Massachusetts
Democrat behind the Net neutrality amendment. This vote
will change "the Internet for the rest of eternity," he warned.
At issue is a lengthy measure called the Communications Opportunity,
Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act, which a House committee
approved in April. Its Republican backers, along with broadband
providers such as Verizon and AT&T, say it has sufficient Net
neutrality protections for consumers, and more extensive rules
would discourage investment in wiring American homes with
higher-speed connections.
The concept of network neutrality, which generally means
that all Internet sites must be treated equally, has drawn
a list of high-profile backers, from actress Alyssa Milano
to Vint Cerf, one of the technical pioneers of the Internet.
It's also led to a political rift between big Internet companies
such as Google and Yahoo that back it--and telecom companies
that oppose what they view as onerous new federal regulations.
As the final House vote drew closer, lobbyists and CEOs
from both sides began stepping up the pressure. eBay CEO
Meg Whitman e-mailed more than a million members, urging
them to support the concept, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt
on Wednesday called on his company's users to follow suit.
Defenders of the COPE Act, largely Republicans, dismissed
worries about Net neutrality as fear mongering.
The debate over Net neutrality had become more complicated
after earlier versions of the COPE Act appeared to alter
antitrust laws--in a way that would have deprived the
House Judiciary Committee of some of its influence.
But in a last-minute compromise designed to placate
key Republicans, the House leadership permitted an
amendment (click for PDF) from Smith that would
preserve the House Judiciary Committee's influence--
without adding extensive Net neutrality mandates.
That amendment to COPE was approved.
While the debate over Net neutrality started over
whether broadband providers could block certain Web sites,
it has moved on to whether they should be permitted to
create a "fast lane" that could be reserved for
video or other specialized content.
________________________________________
.
|
