[Upd-discuss] COMMITTEE KILLS NET NEUTRALITY BILL

[Michael Hart]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has killed an amendment
designed to guarantee net neutrality. The amendment would have
prevented Internet service providers from delivering different content
at different speeds based on content providers' having paid extra
fees. Supporters of the amendment, including Microsoft, Amazon, and
Google, argued that the Internet was built on ideas antithetical to the
notion of paying fees to have content available to consumers. They
called on Congress not to drop the issue but to "enact legislation
preventing discrimination" against certain content providers. Opponents
of the amendment, including cable and phone companies, suggested that
the landscape of online content, including such material as
movie-quality video, could be available to consumers if content
providers paid a surcharge for it. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), chairman of the
committee, commented that net neutrality is "still not clearly defined"
and that he doubts the dire predictions of the amendment's supporters.
ZDNet, 26 April 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6065465.html