After the US mid-term elections, the net neutrality issue is dead
On the Thursday before Election Day ninety-five congressional candidates signed a pledge calling Net Neutrality "the First Amendment of the Internet." The pledge in full states:
"I believe in protecting Net Neutrality - the First Amendment of the Internet. The open Internet is a vital engine for free speech, economic opportunity, and civic participation in the 21st century. I stand with millions of working families and small businesses against any attempt by big corporations to control the Internet and eliminate the Internet's level playing field. In Congress, I'll fight to protect Net Neutrality for the entire Internet - wired and wireless - and make sure big corporations aren’t allowed to take control of free speech online. Mark me down as a 21st century Internet champion!"
The pledge was sponsored by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) who hoped that the campaign would create awareness and enthusiasm for Net Neutrality in the next Congress. This is all well and good for PCCC except now they have a bigger problem: none of the ninety-five congressional candidates won. None of them. Not one candidate.
The Net Neutrality debate in the US is more advanced and a bit more heated than the debate here in the UK. Various issues including proposed legislation has brought the matter to the forefront of the US technology debate as we discussed last month. Signing the pledge in the run up to Election Day was seen by PCCC and many candidates as a sure fire way to secure last minute votes in a rather tight election. Except that they were wrong. Millions of business and families don’t see Net Neutrality as a First Amendment issue; they see it as an attempt at government regulation of the Internet, because that is what it is.
The last hope for the PCCC and other left winged liberals in the US is that a Net Neutrality agreement will be reached in the ‘lame duck’ session of Congress over the next few months before the new intake takes their seats in Congress in January. This is unlikely to happen, however, according to Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich). He doesn’t support Net Neutrality and says, “by allowing companies to compete in an unregulated forum, you're going to allow the faster deployment of new services and new equipment consumers are going to want”. And so it looks like Net Neutrality is a stalled issue for now in the US.
Source: BBW
The Net Neutrality debate in the US is more advanced and a bit more heated than the debate here in the UK. Various issues including proposed legislation has brought the matter to the forefront of the US technology debate as we discussed last month. Signing the pledge in the run up to Election Day was seen by PCCC and many candidates as a sure fire way to secure last minute votes in a rather tight election. Except that they were wrong. Millions of business and families don’t see Net Neutrality as a First Amendment issue; they see it as an attempt at government regulation of the Internet, because that is what it is.
The last hope for the PCCC and other left winged liberals in the US is that a Net Neutrality agreement will be reached in the ‘lame duck’ session of Congress over the next few months before the new intake takes their seats in Congress in January. This is unlikely to happen, however, according to Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich). He doesn’t support Net Neutrality and says, “by allowing companies to compete in an unregulated forum, you're going to allow the faster deployment of new services and new equipment consumers are going to want”. And so it looks like Net Neutrality is a stalled issue for now in the US.
Source: BBW
