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Netizens Rally; Telecom Bill on Hold

September 24, 2006 on 9:28 pm | In IdBlog, Spin | Add a Comment

Coming out of the August recess, it looks like the telecommunications act of 2006 has hit a wall of popular resistance and the primary obstacle is network neutrality.

Back in June, a Republican majority quashed a network neutrality provision in the telecom bill that was put forward by the Democrats. Without this specific piece of legislation it is likely that the FCC will allow an administrative change to common carriage rules that have been in place for decades.

Normally this sort of detail buried in an omnibus bill would only be of interest to policy wonks inside the Beltway and the few businesses concerned. What Senator Ted Stevens, the chairman of the Commerce Committee that is shaping the bill, did not realize is that the internet is now everybody’s business. Thousands of small and medium-sized companies stand to lose if the Federal Communications Commission accedes to big telecom lobbying for tiered access.

Six weeks from the midterm elections, other members of Congress are waking up to the fact that people actually care about this issue.

Not completely deaf to public opinion, Senator Stevens, a Republican from Alaska, and his Commerce Committee released a poll last week that showed the majority of Americans are against internet regulation of any kind. However, as the Wall Street Journal’s capitol bureau noted, the the poll was paid for by Verizon. Which prompted Broadband Reports to call the Senate Commerce Committee a Telco PR firm. The best job of headbanging reporting on the issue was posted by Jeffery Chester of The Nation. Although a very honorable mention must go to We Are the Web and their geek-funk protest video.

Meanwhile, the wave of telecom mergers continues. AT&T’s $67 billion purchase of BellSouth is expected to get the OK from the FCC without neutrality provisions.

Stay tuned to see whether this important legislation is addressed after the November elections, or punted to the next Congress.