NewMexiKen recently wrote to my congressional representative, Heather Wilson, to thank her for her vote in committee in support of an amendment to the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Efficiency Act of 2006. The amendment would have strengthened the measure to keep the net neutral. Congresswoman Wilson was the only Republican to vote for the amendment.
Communications conglomerates AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and others want to control the flow of digital communications and charge websites a “toll” to expedite delivery to the end-user. Such a toll would, of course, destroy much of the democratic nature of the web.
At the behest of the phone and cable lobby, the Federal Communications Commission recently overturned longstanding safeguards. And, according to some reports, that lobby has spent tens of millions of dollars to dissuade Congress from restoring the non-discrimination principle.
Representative Wilson replied to me today. Some of what she said:
I supported an amendment during the full committee mark up that would have strengthened the network neutrality provisions in the bill. The amendment, offered by Congressman Markey, would have imposed non-discriminatory requirements on broadband network providers with respect to the delivery of content, applications, and services over the internet. …
I believe that the internet should remain open to search and visit websites without any restrictions or additional fees charged by providers. The proposed legislation has language that addresses network neutrality, although I think it needs to be even stronger than it is.
NewMexiKen applauds Representative Wilson’s stand — again, she was the sole Republican in committee to support net neutrality. Let’s hope she, and others, like Representative Markey, continue the fight.
Perhaps you should see how your representative stands and encourage his or her support for net neutrality. They’re all up for reelection this year.