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Net Neutrality Voted Down in U.S. House Committee

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the multi-lane-internets dept.

Ana10g writes "Business Week provides a look at the recent vote by the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, in which the FCC would have been given the power to prohibit discrimination of Internet traffic. The battlefield seems to be centered around which group has the better funded lobbyists, with companies such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and many others competing against the well funded Telecommunications lobbysts. The committee voted the amendment down, 34 to 22."

3 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm... Technicalities. by Davus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The proposal, by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would have given the Federal Communications Commission the power to prohibit discrimination when it comes to sending traffic over the Internet. Couldn't this, technically, also eliminate QoS/fair queue'ing and general firewall rules?

    --
    The above is most likely humour. Slashdot foot icon goes here.
  2. I'd love to see this. by mattkinabrewmindspri · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I'd like to see companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, et cetera, form some kind of coalition. For one week, I'd like them to choose a telecom, maybe Verizon one week and at&t the next.

    During that week, any requests for pages from those sites from the telecom's network would respond with a warning page saying

    WARNING:

    Your ISP ([Verizon]) is attempting to charge [Google] so that you can continue to access our site over the internet. If this happens, you will not be able to access [Google] using [Verizon]'s network. We assure you this is not our fault, and we hope you continue to use our site in the future.

    If [Verizon] begins charging sites, you will no longer be able to access any of these sites using [Verizon] internet access:

    • Google
    • Yahoo
    • ebay
    • et cetera

    [Verizon]'s customer service number is [1-877-483-5898].

    Continue on to the page you requested.

    Content providers' sites are one of the few reasons that Verizon and at&t can sell anything. Without sites like Google, Amazon, and Yahoo, Verizon and at&t's pipes are pretty much worthless. The content providers really should make this clear to Verizon and at&t.

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    Albuquerque PC
  3. Interesting Question by jrieth50 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Another interesting question I think needs to be asked - if the United States validates AT&T Chairman's belief that those are 'his pipes' (forgetting its only the last mile,) how long before China decides that those are 'their pipes' and ditto for every connected country in the world.

    Doesn't it stand to reason that anyone providing last mile connectivity or even backbone suddenly declare themselves worthy of charging these tolls? So instead of Google/Yahoo/etc paying just SBC/Verizon/AT&T - now they're expected to pay every telco the world over to ensure they're competitive globally vs. local competition?

    Very dangerous precedent could potentially be set. (And FYI - Congresspeople are not completely oblivious to phone calls and snail mail. If it adds up on them they take that very seriously particularly if you are a constituent. Sending an e-mail though is completely useless (I know...)