[Ecommerce] MCN: Dorgan, Snowe Introduce Net-Neutrality Bill

[Seth Johnson]

> http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6405766.html


Dorgan, Snowe Introduce Net-Neutrality Bill


By Ted Hearn

1/9/2007 6:19:00 PM


Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)
introduced a bipartisan bill Tuesday that would ban cable
operators, phone companies and other providers of broadband
Internet access from engaging in discriminatory management of
their networks to the commercial disadvantage of Web-based
providers of content and applications.

The Dorgan-Snowe bill resumes the so-called network-neutrality
debate from last summer -- a period when major telecommunications
legislation collapsed in the Senate over whether it was necessary
to protect Internet giants like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and
eBay and their customers from potentially discriminatory conduct,
such as the intentional blocking or slowdown of unaffiliated
services that hadn't paid to use additional network capacity.

Such discrimination would =93fundamentally change the way the
Internet has operated and threatens to derail the democratic
nature of the Internet,=94 Dorgan said in a prepared statement with
Snowe.

"Today's reintroduction of the Internet Freedom Preservation Act
marks another step toward ensuring that the fate of the Internet
lies in the hands of its users and not the hands of a few
gatekeepers," Snowe said.

AT&T executive vice president of federal relations Tim McKone
said the bill would deter, rather than promote, the deployment of
high-speed-data networks.

"We continue to believe that net-neutrality regulations are
unwarranted and remain hopeful that lawmakers will pivot their
efforts toward support of a national priority to deploy more
advanced broadband to more Americans more quickly," McKone said.

=93We continue to believe that regulation of the Internet is
unnecessary and will only stifle the investment, innovation and
creativity that has been the hallmark of today's dynamic
broadband marketplace,=94 National Cable & Telecommunications
Association vice president of communications Brian Dietz said in
a prepared statement.

In late December, the Federal Communications Commission approved
AT&T's $85.5 billion merger with BellSouth after the company
volunteered to comply with net-neutrality mandates for the next
two years.

Dorgan and Snowe said the bill would require broadband providers
to "operate the network in a nondiscriminatory manner, but [they]
would remain free to manage the network to protect the security
of the network or to offer different levels of broadband
connection to users."

In another provision, the bill would mandate that consumers have
the right to purchase a "stand-alone broadband connection that is
not bundled with cable, phone or voice-over-Internet-protocol
service."

Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) -- who
are expected to battle for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential
nomination -- signed on as original co-sponsors of the bill.