This article needs to be updated.(December 2021) |
Arguments associated with net neutrality regulations in the US came into prominence in mid-2002, offered by the "High Tech Broadband Coalition", a group comprising the Business Software Alliance; the Consumer Electronics Association; the Information Technology Industry Council; the National Association of Manufacturers; the Semiconductor Industry Association; and the Telecommunications Industry Association, some of which were developers for Amazon.com, Google, and Microsoft. The full concept of "net neutrality" was developed by regulators and legal academics, most prominently law professors Tim Wu, Lawrence Lessig and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell often while speaking at the University of Colorado School of Law Annual Digital Broadband Migration conference or writing in the Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law. [1]
By late 2005, several Congressional draft bills contained net neutrality regulations, as a part of ongoing proposals to reform the Telecommunications Act of 1996, requiring Internet providers to allow consumers access to any application, content, or service. However, important exceptions have permitted providers to discriminate for security purposes, or to offer specialized services like "broadband video" service. [2]
In April 2006, a large coalition of public interest, consumer rights and free speech advocacy groups and thousands of bloggers—such as Free Press, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, American Library Association, Christian Coalition of America, Consumers Union, Common Cause and MoveOn.org—launched the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, a broad-based initiative working to "ensure that Congress passes no telecommunications legislation without meaningful and enforceable network neutrality protections." Within two months of its establishment, it delivered over 1,000,000 signatures to Congress in favor of net neutrality policies and by the end of 2006, it had collected more than 1.5 million signatures. [3]
Two proposed versions of "neutrality" legislation were to prohibit: (1) the "tiering" of broadband through sale of voice- or video-oriented "Quality of Service" packages; and (2) content- or service-sensitive blocking or censorship on the part of broadband carriers. These bills were sponsored by Representatives Markey, Sensenbrenner, et al., and Senators Snowe, Dorgan, and Wyden. [4] [5]
In 2006 Congressman Adam Schiff (D-California), one of the Democrats who voted for the 2006 Sensenbrenner-Conyers bill, said: "I think the bill is a blunt instrument, and yet I think it does send a message that it's important to attain jurisdiction for the Justice Department and for antitrust issues." [6]
The following legislative proposals have been introduced in Congress to address the net neutrality question:
Title | Bill number | Date introduced | Sponsors | Provisions | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
109th Congress of the United States (January 2005 – January 2007) | |||||
Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006 [7] [8] | S. 2360 | March 2, 2006 | Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) |
| Killed by the end of 109th Congress. |
Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Bill of 2006 [10] [11] [12] | H.R. 5252 | March 30, 2006 | Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas and Chairman of the House Commerce Committee) |
| Passed, 321–101, by the full House of Representatives on June 8, 2006 – but with the Network Neutrality provisions of the Markey Amendment removed. Bill killed by end of 109th Congress. [15] |
Network Neutrality Act of 2006 [16] | H.R. 5273 | April 3, 2006 | Representative Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) |
| Defeated, 34–22, in committee with Republicans and some Democrats opposing, most Democrats supporting. [17] |
Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Bill of 2006 [18] | S. 2686 | May 1, 2006 | Senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) & Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) | Aims to amend the Communications Act of 1934 and addresses net neutrality by directing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct a study of abusive business practices predicted by the Save the Internet coalition and similar groups. | Sent to Senate in a 15–7 committee vote and defeated by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation on June 28, 2006. Killed by the end of 109th Congress. |
Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006 [19] | H.R. 5417 | May 18, 2006 | Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) & John Conyers (D-Michigan) |
| Approved, 20–13, by the House Judiciary committee on May 25, 2006. Killed by the end of 109th Congress. |
110th Congress of the United States (January 2007 – January 2009) | |||||
Internet Freedom Preservation Act (casually known as the Snowe-Dorgan bill) [21] | S. 215 (110th Congress) formerly S. 2917 (109th Congress) | January 9, 2007 | Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) & Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), Co-Sponsors: Barack Obama (D-Illinois), Hillary Clinton (D-New York), John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and other Senators |
| Read twice and referred to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. |
Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008 [23] | H.R.5353 | February 12, 2008 | Representatives Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) & Charles Pickering (R-Mississippi) |
| Introduced to the House Energy and Commerce Committee |
111th Congress of the United States (January 2009 – January 2011) | |||||
Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009 [25] [26] | H.R.3458 | 2009 | – |
| – |
112th Congress of the United States (January 2011 – January 2013) | |||||
Data Cap Integrity Act of 2012 [29] | S. 3703 | December 20, 2012 | Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) | To improve the ability of consumers to control their digital data usage, promote Internet use, and for other purposes. | Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. |
(D) = a member of the House or Senate Democratic Caucus; (R) = a member of the House or Senate Republican Conference |
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access, fair competition, radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security.
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privately owned.
Anna A. Eshoo is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from California's 16th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 18th district from 2013 to 2023, is based in Silicon Valley, including the cities of Redwood City, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Palo Alto, as well as part of San Jose. Eshoo is the only Assyrian American in Congress and the only Armenian American woman in Congress.
Edward John Markey is an American lawyer, politician, and former Army reservist serving as the junior United States senator from Massachusetts since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served 20 terms as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district from 1976 to 2013. Before his congressional career, he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1976.
Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of content, website, platform, application, type of equipment, source address, destination address, or method of communication.
The 109th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, from January 3, 2005, to January 3, 2007, during the fifth and sixth years of George W. Bush's presidency. House members were elected in the 2004 elections on November 2, 2004. Senators were elected in three classes in the 2000 elections on November 7, 2000, 2002 elections on November 5, 2002, or 2004 elections on November 2, 2004. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 2000 United States census.
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The Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006 was a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was part of a major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 being considered by the US Congress. The Act was sponsored by Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Rep. Charles Pickering (R-MS) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL).
The Universal Service Fund (USF) is a system of telecommunications subsidies and fees managed by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) intended to promote universal access to telecommunications services in the United States. The FCC established the fund in 1997 in compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The FCC is a government agency that implements and enforces telecommunications regulations across the U.S. and its territories. The Universal Service Fund's budget ranges from $5–8 billion per year depending on the needs of the telecommunications providers. These needs include the cost to maintain the hardware needed for their services and the services themselves. The total 2019 proposed budget for the USF was $8.4 billion. The budget is revised quarterly allowing the service providers to accurately estimate their costs. As of 2019, roughly 60% of the USF budget was put towards “high-cost” areas, 19% went to libraries and schools, 13% was for low income areas, and 8% was for rural health care. In 2019 the rate for the USF budget was 24.4% of a telecom company's interstate and international end-user revenues.
The Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act of 2006 is a bill in the United States House of Representatives. It is one of several bills on the topic of network neutrality proposed as part of a major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Act is sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), and Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN).
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