LAWMAKER MAY JUMP INTO NETWORK NEUTRALITY FRAY 
 
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:15:10 -0500 (CDT)


http://uk.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUKN1125783020080312?feedType=RSS&feedName=technology-media-telco-SP

REUTERS Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:54am GMT

WASHINGTON  (Reuters)  -  Congress may have to stop broadband Internet 
providers  from  charging  content  providers higher fees for priority access 
to  the  Internet,  a senior House of Representatives Democrat said on Tuesday.

"I  am  concerned that if Congress stands by and does nothing, we will soon 
find  ourselves  living in a world where those who pay, can play (on the 
Internet),  but  those  who  don't  are simply out of luck," Judiciary 
Committee Chairman John Conyers said.

Conyers,  a  Democrat  from Michigan, may offer legislation that would make  it 
a  violation  of U.S. antitrust law for network providers to discriminate 
against some content, an aide to the lawmaker said after a committee hearing on 
the issue.

That  legislation  would  be  similar  to a bill introduced by Conyers during 
the  last  session  of  Congress,  which  was  approved by the Judiciary 
committee  but  was never brought up for a vote of the full House.

Conyers  echoed the concerns expressed by a civil liberties lawyer and other 
open-network  advocates  at  the  hearing.  They  argued  that discrimination 
by broadband network providers could lead to censorship of political speech and 
shut out the voices of independent artists.

"To  be  sure,  if  we  go  in (that) direction, it will stifle future 
innovation on the Internet," Conyers said.

At  issue  is the so-called "network neutrality" controversy that pits 
open-Internet  advocates  against some service providers, who say they need  to 
take reasonable steps to manage ever-growing traffic on their networks.

Some  of  network  neutrality complaints have centered on charges that 
broadband  companies  were  engaged in anti-competitive conduct, while others 
involved charges of political censorship.