The Debate over Net Neutrality
Posted by Andrew McLaughlin, Senior
Policy Counsel
The debate over "net neutrality" is coming to a boil in
the next week as the House of Representatives is due to vote on a
bill that could determine the future of the Internet. The big phone
and cable TV companies want Congress’s permission to create a new,
unprecedented regulatory bureaucracy on the Internet – a private
bureaucracy of broadband monopolists with the power to determine
what content gets to you first and fastest. Google believes that
forcing people and companies to get permission from, and pay
special fees to, the phone and cable companies to connect with one
another online is fundamentally counter to the freedom and
innovation that have defined the Internet.
Our CEO Eric Schmidt believes this situation is so important that
he has written an open letter to Google users asking them to speak
out on this issue. We urge all of you to
letter and call your
representative in Congress at 202-224-3121. For more
information on the issue, and more ways to make your voice be
heard, visit
Update: For those
following this debate closely, the key House vote is happening
Thursday night or Friday morning on the Markey-Boucher-Eshoo-Inslee
Amendment, which would add meaningful net neutrality provisions to
H.R. 5252, the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and
Enhancement (COPE) Act. We believe anything less that this
amendment would be a loss for freedom and innovation on the
Internet.
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