Republicans Defeat Net Neutrality Proposal
Remember John Edwards' "Two Americas"? Well, a House subcommittee just moved us closer to a country of "Two Internets," in which only the wealthy will enjoy the fastest connection speeds.Remember John Edwards’ “Two Americas”? Well, a House subcommittee just moved us closer to a country of “Two Internets,” in which only the wealthy will enjoy the fastest connection speeds.
Your support is crucial...CNET.com:
Republicans defeat Net neutrality proposal
By Declan McCullagh
A partisan divide pitting Republicans against Democrats on the question of Internet regulation appears to be deepening.
A Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Wednesday defeated a proposal that would have levied extensive regulations on broadband providers and forcibly prevented them from offering higher-speed video services to partners or affiliates.
By an 8-to-23 margin, the committee members rejected a Democratic-backed “Net neutrality” amendment to a current piece of telecommunications legislation. The amendment had attracted support from companies including Amazon.com, eBay, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and their chief executives wrote a last-minute letter to the committee on Wednesday saying such a change to the legislation was “critical.”
Before the vote, amendment sponsor Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, assailed his Republican colleagues. “We’re about to break with the entire history of the Internet,” Markey said. “Everyone should understand that.”
This philosophical rift extends beyond the precise wording of the telecommunications legislation. It centers on whether broadband providers will be free to design their networks as they see fit and enjoy the latitude to prioritize certain types of traffic–such as streaming video–over others.
As we navigate an uncertain 2025, with a new administration questioning press freedoms, the risks are clear: our ability to report freely is under threat.
Your tax-deductible donation enables us to dig deeper, delivering fearless investigative reporting and analysis that exposes the reality beneath the headlines — without compromise.
Now is the time to take action. Stand with our courageous journalists. Donate today to protect a free press, uphold democracy and uncover the stories that need to be told.
A just-approved amendment forces the state to allocate superdelegates based on caucus results.
I recently introduced an amendment at the Senate Budget Committee. It asked my Senate colleagues to begin the process of overturning the disastrous Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United, and to bring transparency and disclosure to the political process.
Conservative types sure are liberal about whom, or what, they're willing to call a person. Hey, corporations are people too! And according to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and other like-minded state legislators, so is a fertilized egg.
In results released Sunday evening, 77 percent of Egyptian voters have endorsed amendments to their country’s constitution that will pave the way for parliamentary elections, which the military junta said will be held in June.
If you can't beat ’em, hit ’em with a bunch of amendments they'd have a hard time opposing. That was apparently the strategy of Republicans hoping to throw a wrench into the health care reform works in the Senate on Wednesday.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.