As reported earlier, the pending COPE legislation has huge gaping holes with regard to network neutrality. An amendment designed to ensure network neutrality was defeated by a 34-22 vote in the House Energy and Commerce committee today. According to Declan McCullagh’s report for CNET, amendment sponsor Representative Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) pretty much nailed the position of the supporters of network neutrality:
“Did the Bells create the Internet? Did the cable companies create the Internet? The answer is no. The Internet was built on a different model, a public interest model, funded by American taxpayers.”
Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas), chair of the committee and sponsor of the pending COPE legislation, complains that network neutrality is “still not clearly defined,” according to McCullagh’s account. “It’s kind of like pornography: You know it when you see it.”
Broadband providers—the telephone and cable companies—argue that higher speed connectivity is viable “only if some bandwidth can be reserved for paid content.”
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