It was quite the news day for Net Neutrality.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Sensenbrenner and senior Democrat Conyers introduced a real Net Neutrality bill.
Here's our news release:
Public Knowledge Statement on Sensenbrenner/Conyers legislation
Background: House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI) and senior Democrat John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) today introduced legislation (HR 5417) to preserve Net Neutrality. This statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“We are very grateful to Chairman Sensenbrenner and to Ranking Member Conyers for introducing this legislation. We look forward to its consideration and support by the full House Judiciary Committee.
“The bill squarely addresses the issue of the enormous market power of the telephone and cable companies as the providers of 98 percent of the broadband service in the country. The bill restores the principle of non-discrimination that allowed the Internet to flourish in the dial-up era, making certain that the same freedom and innovation will flourish in the broadband era without burdensome regulation.”
A copy of the bill is available here
Earlier in the day at the Senate Commerce Committee, Net Neutrality was brought up as the key issue in the bill (S 2686) introduced by Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Senators and witnesses both characterized the issue as the one that could make, or break, the bill.