Two legislative proposals are going through the US Congress,
with Democrats largely backing net neutrality and Republicans
largely keen to leave regulation to the market and decisions in the
hands of telecommunications firms.
Two weeks ago a House of Representatives Judiciary Committee
backed the Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act, which
proposes enshrining in law the principle that telecoms firms cannot
block or charge for internet services at will.
Meanwhile a competing Bill is being processed, the
Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE),
to which an amendment to the same effect was proposed. That
amendment was defeated in the House, meaning that the two acts are
now in opposition.
The vote, argued the amendment's proposer Representative Ed
Markey, would change "the internet for the rest of eternity. The
future Sergey Brins, the future marc Andreessens, of Netscape and
Google, are going to have to pay taxes" to broadband providers, he
argued.
Telecoms companies have argued that they should be paid extra in
order to deliver the services that make money from being connected
to users' homes. The move has been opposed by those companies, such
as eBay, Google and Yahoo.
The passing of the bill raises the prospect that US telecoms
firms could charge internet companies a premium for access to
consumers.
The telcos argue that they have paid for the infrastructure, not
the internet companies, so the internet companies should not be
allowed to profit from that infrastructure for free.
The internet companies and other advocates of net neutrality
argue that consumers pay telcos to connect them to the entire
internet, not just those who in turn pay the telcos.
The COPE Act will now progress to the Senate. If it is approved
there without amendment and is signed by the US President then it
will become law.
The other proposed bill, the Internet Freedom and
Nondiscrimination Act, still awaits a floor vote in the House of
Representatives.
