[LINK] US House votes out net neutrality

[Jan Whitaker]

[keep in mind that the House is only one part of Congress, so the 
situation isn't resolved yet, despite the implications of the 
headline. This is the US version of a Telstra dominance if it 
controlled the content being sent over the wires or airwaves, e.g. 
preferencing Foxtel programs via their broadband services. 
Republicans are the party of bigger business interests in the US, 
hence the position to reduce ANY regulation, no matter if it 
increases competition across all business or not.]

House votes to overturn 'net neutrality' rules



http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-technology/house-votes-to-overturn-net-neutrality-rules-20110409-1d86h.html
April 9, 2011 - 7:50AM

The US House of Representatives voted on Friday to overturn "net 
neutrality" rules aimed at ensuring an open Internet, setting the 
stage for a clash with the Senate and President Barack Obama.

The House voted 240-179 in favor of a Republican-backed resolution 
that seeks to block the rules approved by the Federal Communications 
Commission (FCC).

The House vote went almost entirely along party lines although six 
Democrats joined the Republicans in voting for the resolution and two 
Republicans opposed it.
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The five-member, Democratic-controlled FCC, in a vote split on party 
lines, agreed in December to the rules aimed at safeguarding "network 
neutrality" -- the principle that lawful Web traffic should be treated equally.

Supporters have argued that the rules are needed to ensure an open 
Internet but opponents have decried them as unnecessary government 
intervention.

The Senate, where Democrats are in the majority, is unlikely to pass 
a measure similar to that approved by the House and the White House 
has threatened a veto if the resolution reaches President Obama's desk.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a Republican from Virginia, 
welcomed the House's approval of the resolution calling it "an 
important step to bring down the FCC's harmful and partisan plan to 
regulate the Internet."

"These regulations give the government unwarranted authority to 
control broadband networks which ultimately will hinder a thriving 
industry, harm competition and stifle innovation," Cantor said.

"Under Republican leadership, the House is focusing on ending 
anti-growth government regulations," he said.

Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi of California said the 
Republican-backed resolution "takes us in the wrong direction -- 
revoking basic consumer protections, eliminating competition, and 
shutting off outlets of innovation."

Senator Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat from West Virginia, expressed 
disappointment with the House move saying "Americans want the 
Internet to remain free and open and the FCC's net neutrality rules 
provided just that."

The rules are a balancing act by the FCC between support for 
consumers and the cable and telephone companies that are the main 
Internet service providers in the United States.

The rules would prevent fixed broadband providers from blocking 
lawful content, applications or services, providing their own video 
content at a faster speed, for example, than that of a rival.

Wireless providers may not block access to lawful websites or 
applications that compete directly with their own voice or video 
telephony services but they could potentially block other 
applications or services.

Fixed broadband providers can also charge consumers according to 
usage, a metered pricing practice already used by some wireless carriers.

US telecom carrier Verizon Communications filed a legal challenge to 
the FCC's rules in January but a federal appeals court threw it out 
this week on the grounds that it was "premature" because the FCC has 
not yet published the rules in the Federal Register.



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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