Top Democratic lawmaker signs on to Net Neutrality bill
September 21, 2009
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman last Thursday added himself as a co-sponsor of the net neutrality bill currently being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Waxman made the announcement that he would co-sponsor the bill at a subcommittee hearing on Thursday. The Energy and Commerce Committee is the Congressional overseer of the FCC, which would be responsible for enforcing any net neutrality bill signed into law.
Markham Erickson, executive director of the Open Internet Coalition, said that Waxman's action "is a major and welcome step in Congressional support of the open internet." While telecom giants such as Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T strongly oppose net neutrality - which would rob them of the ability to block or slow traffic to certain sites or applications - other major players of the online world say that unfettered access to all services and websites must be guaranteed.
Most advocates for net neutrality concede that exceptions would have to be made in order for networks to remain reasonably uncongested, but the bill now before Congress, proposed by Democratic representatives Ed Markey and Anna Eshoo, would greatly limit network operators' ability to restrict traffic on their networks.
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