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TOPIC: LAWMAKER MAY JUMP INTO NETWORK NEUTRALITY FRAY
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REUTERS Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:54am GMT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress may have to stop broadband Internet
providers from charging content providers higher fees for priority access
to the Internet, a senior House of Representatives Democrat said on Tuesday.
"I am concerned that if Congress stands by and does nothing, we will soon
find ourselves living in a world where those who pay, can play (on the
Internet), but those who don't are simply out of luck," Judiciary
Committee Chairman John Conyers said.
Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, may offer legislation that would make it
a violation of U.S. antitrust law for network providers to discriminate
against some content, an aide to the lawmaker said after a committee hearing on
the issue.
That legislation would be similar to a bill introduced by Conyers during
the last session of Congress, which was approved by the Judiciary
committee but was never brought up for a vote of the full House.
Conyers echoed the concerns expressed by a civil liberties lawyer and other
open-network advocates at the hearing. They argued that discrimination
by broadband network providers could lead to censorship of political speech and
shut out the voices of independent artists.
"To be sure, if we go in (that) direction, it will stifle futureConyers said.
innovation on the Internet,"
At issue is the so-called "network neutrality" controversy that pits
open-Internet advocates against some service providers, who say they need to
take reasonable steps to manage ever-growing traffic on their networks.
Some of network neutrality complaints have centered on charges that
broadband companies were engaged in anti-competitive conduct, while others
involved charges of political censorship.
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