Judiciary Committee approves net neutrality

In a move that may pave the way for legislation forbidding phone and cable companies from charging content providers a premium for access to customers, the House Judiciary Committee today approved the net neutrality bill introduced by Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI). The bill, known formally as the "Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act," must still go to the full House, where it faces a competing bill promulgated by the Commerce Committee. The bill cleared the Committee 20-13, with bipartisan support. If you have no idea what we're talking about, that's cool -- we haven't covered it much here on Engadget, but it's a very important issue about how the internet is or isn't governed by big communications companies in the years to come.

[WicK3d GooSe @ May 25th 2006 5:02PM]

First post. Mac's suck.

[John from Buffalo @ May 25th 2006 5:05PM]

I bet the 13 that voted against it were lobbied cold and hard from AOL and ATnT who have vested interest in over 56 billion on cable and wires lined in the networks. Ya..... money talks in DC. Welcome to inside the belt-way ... resistance is futile. here are the keys to your new benz, bitches.

[Evil Closet Monkey @ May 25th 2006 5:20PM]

http://www.savetheinternet.com/

[Galls @ May 25th 2006 6:48PM]

well now we know which lobiests are winnnig.

[base2wave @ May 25th 2006 9:43PM]

I'm rather suprised at the lack of comments on this post. I mean we see torrents of comments about product releases and what not, but when a piece discusses something that potentiall affects ALL of us, this place is a virtual graveyard. I dunno what I expect, it just slightly troubling.

[eliot1785 @ May 25th 2006 9:50PM]

Isn't anybody worried about the fact that this is the first bill to come out of Congress to explicitly regulate what groups can and cannot charge (and therefore can and cannot do) on the Internet? The motivation behind this is all well and good, but the Internet didn't get where it is today by government intervention. I have to say I'm quite disturbed by this bill. And no, I don't work for AOL or whatever, just a regular guy.

[base2wave @ May 25th 2006 10:00PM]

Elliot1785:
I don't disagree with you on the scariness of regulation, but at this point it's a double edged sword, as this bill only came about after the lobbyists pushed for the bill that directly apposes it under the guise of streamlining the Internet and handling increased bandwidth costs and demands. So it's either counter-regulate or stand by idling and get steamrollered. Just an opinion.

[V @ May 26th 2006 2:39AM]

firstly:
www.savetheinternet.com
^
go there. too lazy to hyperlink it.

secondly, im damned glad the Net Neutrality Bill has gone through this far. This is something which will probably affect each and every one of us bloggers, email users, work-from-home-er's (ok not a word, however I think you get the point). If the big corporations (AOL, Verizon, AT&T, etc.) gain control of the internet's flow, the internet as we know it is royally screwed. no more free google, or email, or anything for that matter, because every site will have to pay a toll if they want to get in the "fast lane". and if they have to pay, they have to have a way to replenish that money, meaning you'll have to pay.

I hope for once, the government makes the right choice. Its very surprising there aren't more comments on this- you'd think everyone who's ever used the internet would be on here in some way shape or form. hopefully this clears things.

cheers.

[slysithesuperspy @ May 26th 2006 4:56AM]

I'm pretty sure there was an aggreement they signed about net neutrality a while back. I thought this was an extention on that, dont quote me on that tho...

[Tom L @ May 26th 2006 7:37AM]

Net Neutrality still has a long way to go and there will be a lot of money thrown against this legislation.

Net Neutrality can be discussed locally in your own town. If Verizon or AT&T ais applying to operate an IPTV cable tv franchise in your town then you should attend your town council meetings and raise questions about Net Neutrality, and the telco’s future plans for the net.

I’m doing this in my town, http://www.redbanktv.org, I encourage you to get involved in your town.

[Gr1zz @ May 26th 2006 7:52AM]

If this fails and cable companys win, our only saving grace might be with startups carpeting the US with free (adbased) wireless. Causing the cable companys to smarten up and throw faster service our way.

[Brian from Texas @ May 26th 2006 10:18AM]

I just assumed that there's no way in Hell that it will pass. Taking a back seat to such important issues is wrong, however.

#11. I disagree. If a startup is providing us with any kind of internet access it still hits the backbone. And the backbone is controlled by AT&T, who's president is the one pushing for a tiered Internet.

[jr @ May 26th 2006 11:23AM]

If you're confused, a funny and simple explanation of net neutrality can be found at Ask Ninja:

http://www.askaninja.com/news/2006/05/11/ask-a-ninja-special-delivery-4-net-neutrality

[Venscoso @ May 26th 2006 12:31PM]

I don't think Net Neutrality will be nearly as big an issue as people are scared about. Under the current way of looking at our telecom infrastructure - yes, it will be an issue. But consider this: within a few years (or maybe a decade or two), telcos will no longer have their "power play" of Landline/Cellular/DSL/Cable. It will be high-speed internet and super-ultra-high-speed-internet. The high-speed will handle all our voice (and cellular, as WiFi networks replace cell towers), and the super-ulta will handles all our HDTV needs. So Telco's will charge consumers out the ass for the super-ultra, leaving companies alone. Which is really the way it should be.

[rodsky @ Apr 25th 2008 10:15AM]

"Allowing broadband carriers to control what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success." Vinton Cerf, a co-inventor of the Internet Protocol (IP), and current Vice President and "Chief Internet Evangelist"; at Google

WE MUST PROTECT NET NEUTRALITY!!!