CNET: House begins debate on Net neutrality rules

[Eugene]

House begins debate on Net neutrality rules

By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: June 8, 2006, 12:05 PM PDT

Last-minute political maneuvering over Net neutrality regulations erupted Thursday
before a scheduled vote in the full U.S. House of Representatives.

In a floor debate that fell almost entirely along party lines, Democrats lambasted
a telecommunications bill for not including stiff Net neutrality regulations and
said they would oppose it unless amendments they favored were adopted.

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At issue is a lengthy measure called the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and
Enhancement (COPE) Act, which a House committee approved in April. Its Republican
backers, along with Verizon and AT&T, say it has sufficient Net neutrality
protections for consumers and more extensive rules would discourage investment
in wiring American homes with higher-speed connections.

The concept of network neutrality, which generally means that all Internet sites
must be treated equally, has drawn a list of high-profile backers, from actress
Alyssa Milano to Vint Cerf, one of the technical pioneers of the Internet. It's also
led to a political rift between big Internet companies such as Google and Yahoo
that back it--and telecom companies that oppose what they view as onerous new
federal regulations.

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http://news.com.com/House+begins+debate+on+Net+neutrality+rules/2100-1028_3-6081614.html