Net Neutrality Watchers Now Await Senate’s Next Move

Senate Democrats have proposed language similar to what failed in the House, and a revised version of Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens’ (R-Alaska) draft telecom bill, which calls for an FCC study on net neutrality, is expected today (Mon.). There was originally talk of a hearing tomorrow and a mark-up next week, said Public Knowledge Pres. Gigi Sohn. Trying to get a bill out of committee before the July 4 holiday is “ambitious,” she said, but she said she knows Stevens “wants to move a bill -- make no mistake about it.” Sohn balked at analysts who have argued there’s “no way a bill will pass the Senate this year.” Stevens’ draft, which also tackles video franchising and universal service fund (USF) reform, could pass, particularly if it’s trimmed, she said.

In its rush to satisfy big telecom, the House “turned its back on hundreds of thousands of consumers” who told their representatives they wanted an Internet that’s not controlled by phone and cable companies, Sohn said: “With more time, Congress will understand the stakes here.” That time will give Sohn and her allies a chance to convince Congress that a nondiscrimination principle must pass, she said. It’s “a little too soon to tell” how Senate votes might stack up. One thing is certain, said: “A lot of members are sitting on the fence” and it’s time for more “heavy-duty” campaigning.

An early order of business is getting at least one more GOP co-sponsor on the Snowe-Dorgan bill (S-2917). Commerce Committee Ranking Member Inouye (D-Hawaii), Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sens. Boxer (D- Cal.), Clinton (D-N.Y.), Obama (D-Ill.) and Wyden (D-Ore.) have signed on to the bill. Net neutrality backers pledged to get more lawmakers from both sides of the aisle aligned with them. The House vote should be a “wake-up call to anyone who cares about the future of the Internet,” said Google Washington Policy Counsel Alan Davidson. American Library Assn. Dir.-Govt. Relations Lynne Bradley said she hoped House members will see “the error of their ways.”

Net neutrality stands a better chance in the Senate than the House because there’s “perhaps a better understanding of the fundamental technology implications of net neutrality on innovation on the Internet,” said Consumers Union Senior Policy Analyst Jeannine Kenney. She said senators have “greater sensitivity to the gatekeeper problem” in general in the telecom industry. But the Senate is no more or less tech-savvy than House, a net neutrality legislation opponent told us. The institutional difference that matters is that in the Senate, there are more mechanisms to stop a bill. But “at the end of the day, I would never bet against Chairman Stevens and his legislative skills,” he said.

Net neutrality supporters’ “scare tactics will become even more shrill” as the debate moves to the Senate, the Hands Off the Internet Coalition (HOTI) said Fri. HOTI urged senators and staff to heed the Communications Workers of America’s warning that net neutrality could hold back growth of high-speed networks, hurting underserved communities especially, and to consider comments from Internet experts like David Farber, who suggested that a neutral group study the facts, rather than letting emotion steer the debate. HOTI also urged members to listen to the American Conservative Union (ACU), which said net neutrality amounts to govt. control of Internet content and prices.

“Bipartisan common sense won out over the bottom lines of a few big online companies,” co-Chmn. Mike McCurry said of the Thurs. night vote. The “Google-eBay-Microsoft lobbying effort” failed because the action they support would shift the cost of building tomorrow’s Internet onto consumers’ backs, he said. His group is backed by AT&T, Alcatel, BellSouth, the National Assn. of Mfrs. and others. By rejecting net neutrality, the House “clearly stated a preference for telecom reform that allows the marketplace and not the government to pick winners and losers,” said National Cable & Telecom Assn. (NCTA) Pres. Kyle McSlarrow. Govt. should further study the emerging broadband landscape before “injecting itself into a thriving, dynamic market where investment and innovation are flourishing,” he said.

Net neutrality is a “phony issue” that should be laid to rest by the House vote, said BellSouth Vp-Govt. Affairs Herschel Abbott. He also reassured consumers that his company won’t “block or degrade access to any legal content on the Internet,” despite what net neutrality backers have alleged. An AT&T spokesman said he hoped the Senate will “proceed expeditiously,” so a final bill to speed broadband deployment, video competition and consumer choice can soon be signed into law. The Competitive Enterprise Institute also said it hoped the “resounding defeat” in the House would “send the correct signal to senators that this is a losing issue both economically and politically.”

The weapons for the war won’t change with the stakes raised, net neutrality defenders said. From the early days of the crusade, “we've known that grassroots and consumer outreach is key to success,” Davidson said. The SavetheInternet.com coalition, which has done much of the mobilizing, boasts more than 785,000 backers, 752 coalition members and 5,000-plus blog links. Davidson said “we need to win this fight outside the Beltway” since “we're never going to match the armies of lobbyists our adversaries have.” But the net neutrality legislation foe said the policy’s proponents were the ones who “pulled out all the lobbying stops,” referring to Google bringing its “star power,” in the form of co-founder Sergey Brin, to Washington to lobby at the 11th hour.