The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“Today, Reps. Ed Markey and Anna Eshoo introduced legislation that will bring online certainty to millions of Internet users and companies. This bill clearly recognizes that while Internet broadband services are crucial to our economy, the market for those services is not at all competitive. It recognizes as well the that essential character of the Internet is the relationship between the consumer at one end and the online services at the other. This end-to-end principle is what made the Internet the most democratic and creative medium in history.
“The requirements in the bill are very straightforward. In essence, the bill would return non-discrimination to communications law, preventing Internet service providers (ISPs), such as telephone and cable companies, from interfering in that end-to-end relationship. The requirements would curb the ability of ISPs from using the claim of network management to impose their own priorities on data traffic, based on financial arrangements or other considerations.
“We welcome the future discussions that are sure to come, and we congratulate Reps. Markey and Eshoo for taking this bold, needed, first step to ensuring the rights of Internet users are protected by law.”
The text of the bill is here
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