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Lone Senator Holds Out for Net Neutrality

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

June 29, 2006

Net Neutrality • Internet Providers Ponder Bandwidth Limits For Heavy Users • Comcast, Cox Caught Blocking BitTorrent • Will Antitrust Law Save Net Neutrality? • Few Are Neutral in Net Neutrality Battles • Net Neutrality Supporters Testify • Comcast Blocks Public From FCC Hearing • Congress Gets Net Neutrality Legislation • Time Warner To Test Metered Pricing For Broadband • House Committee To Probe FCC • FCC To Investigate Comcast For Blocking Net Traffic • Verizon Wireless Opens Network to All Devices, Software • Comcast Sued Over Internet Blocking • Verizon Overrides Internet Searches With Its Own Results • Comcast Blocks Subscribers From Some Services • Verizon's Abortion Block Raises Net Neutrality Concerns • FTC Nixes Net Neutrality • Wireless Spectrum May Hold Key To Net Neutrality • Telcos Lift Block On FreeConference.Com • FCC Takes Another Look at Net Neutrality • AT&T Blocks Calls To Competing Conference Call Service • Study: Ending Net Neutrality Would Hurt Consumers • FCC, FTC Challenged To Protect Net Neutrality • Net Neutrality Back on Congress' Agenda • Net Neutrality Opponents Step Up PR Blitz • AT&T Trumpets New TV Service • Verizon Joins BellSouth in Retreat From Unexplained New DSL Fee • FCC Nudges BellSouth Into Giving Up New DSL Fees • FTC Head Urges "Caution" On Net Neutrality • Net Neutrality May Derail Telecom Bill • Google: No Net Neutrality Means Antitrust Fight • Senate Prepares for Net Neutrality Showdown • Congress Moves Quickly To Satisfy Telecoms' Net Neutrality, Cable Entry Demands • Net Neutrality Gets Its Day In Congress • Net Neutrality Wins Committee Vote In Congress • Net Neutrality Attracts Surprising Allies • Congress Wrestles with Net Neutrality

What seemed at first to be yet another defeat for Net Neutrality in Congress has taken a surprising turn, as one lone Senator has threatened to "hold" any action on the new telecommunications legislation unless concerns about equal access to Internet content are addressed.

In the midst of the "markup" process to prepare the massive telecommunications bill for a floor vote in the Senate, the Commerce Committee tied 11-11 on June 28th regarding an amendment that would prevent Internet service providers from blocking or degrading access to content.

As a tie means the amendment does not pass, the bill was passed 17-5 by the Committee without any amendments supporting Net Neutrality.

But Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who had previously offered his own legislation supporting Net Neutrality, then announced he was placing a "hold" on the legislation until clear protections for net neutrality were addressed.

Although the "hold" does not have any enforcement power, and the Senate Majority Leader is free to ignore it, its usage is a clear warning that the challenger intends to filibuster the legislation.

In his statement announcing the hold, Wyden said that "the major telecommunications legislation reported today by the Senate Commerce Committee is badly flawed."

"The Internet has thrived precisely because it is neutral," Wyden said. "It has thrived because consumers, and not some giant cable or phone company, get to choose what they want to see and how quickly they get to see it. I am not going to allow a bill to go forward that is going to end surfing the Web free of discrimination."

Wyden's challenge is another sign that passing telecommunications legislation in the Senate may be more difficult than anyone anticipated.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), author of the new legislation and chairman of the Commerce Committee, has admitted that the bill does not have the 60 votes needed to assure passage at the moment.

ven as the bill passed from the Commerce Committee to the Senate floor, Stevens signaled that he was willing to pare back some of the legislation's aspects and introduce stronger language protecting against content discrimination, in order to assure the bill passed before Congress turns its attention to the campaign season.

Telecom and cable companies have been mostly pleased by the results from the Commerce Committee markup so far.

In addition to the Net Neutrality defeat, the Committee voted 12-10 against mandating that new cable and telecom franchises "build out" service in entire areas. Consumer groups have charged that without protections ensuring equal build outs, companies like Verizon and Comcast will only offer service to higher-income demographic areas, leaving poor and rural areas without options for broadband Internet or cable service.

The Committee also defeated an amendment that would have mandated "cable a la carte," or the right of cable buyers to buy only the channels they want to view. Cable companies predictably hailed the defeat as a triumph for programming diversity.

But the level of contentiousness surrounding the issue of net neutrality threatens to derail the bill and keep it from passing the Senate.

Members of the "Save The Internet" coalition, which has spearheaded the net neutrality debate's move into the mainstream, point to the tie vote as a sign of momentum shifting in their favor.

Ben Scott, policy director for the Free Press organization, said that "The tie vote in the Commerce Committee shows the gathering momentum for Network Neutrality across political lines. In the past several weeks, this fundamental principle has moved from obscurity to the center stage in the debate over our nation's telecommunications policy."

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