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House senate fight over internet discrimination { May 20 2006 }

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   http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/20/BUG56IV8DA1.DTL

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/20/BUG56IV8DA1.DTL

Internet bills butting heads
House, Senate disagree over cost of information online
- Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, May 20, 2006


A Senate bill introduced Friday would discourage the creation of toll roads in cyberspace, taking the side of Internet activists who are fighting with telephone companies over so-called network neutrality.

The bill introduced by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., would prohibit broadband carriers from blocking, degrading or offering preferential service. The Senate bill is similar to legislation that was rejected twice in a House committee.

The net neutrality issue arose because lawmakers in the House are writing a bill to make it easier for phone companies to offer television in competition with cable companies. Phone companies say that in order to justify the cost of building a broadband network capable of delivering TV, they want a free hand in pricing digital freight.

The House bill, which could come to a floor vote in June, takes the phone company view.

Internet activists, backed by powerful companies like Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., have urged lawmakers to preserve the status quo on the Internet, where all traffic is shipped at the same speed without preference or special charges.

The Senate net neutrality bill comes a day after Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced legislation that would make it an antitrust violation to charge different customers different fees for sending the same digital traffic over broadband lines.

"In the last week, we've had two net neutrality bills introduced," said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a Washington group specializing in Internet issues. "Momentum is moving to our side."

But Verizon Communications Inc. spokesman David Fish said Congress supports the intent of the House bill to spur competition between phone and cable companies in the TV market and will not let a disagreement over net neutrality derail that.

"I think we're winning because the issue that is driving the whole thing is television choice,'' he said.

On Thursday, the Senate is scheduled to hold hearings on S.2686, which calls for changes in communications law that go far beyond those envisioned in the House bill. At present, the Senate bill calls only for a study of net neutrality. Snowe and Dorgan are both Commerce Committee members, so the hearing will give them a chance to discuss their bill and offer some hint of Senate sentiment on net neutrality.

E-mail Tom Abate at tabate@sfchronicle.com.

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