Submission + - Network Neutrality Back in Congress for 3rd Time (arstechnica.com)
suraj.sun writes: Ed Markey (D-MA : http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3763&Itemid=125) is a big fan of "third time's the charm." He has introduced his plan to legislate network neutrality into a third consecutive Congress, and he has a message for ISPs: upgrade your infrastructure and don't even think about blocking or degrading traffic.
The war over network neutrality has been fought in the last two Congresses, and last week's introduction of the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009" ( http://markey.house.gov/images/PDFs/netneutralitybill.pdf : PDF ) means that legislators will duke it out a third time. Should the bill pass, Internet service providers will not be able to "block, interfere with, discriminate against, impair, or degrade" access to any lawful content from any lawful application or device.
Rulemaking and enforcement of network neutrality would be given to the Federal Communications Commission, which would also be given the unenviable job of hashing out what constitutes "reasonable network management"--something explicitly allowed by the bill.
Neutrality would also not apply to the access and transfer of unlawful information, including "theft of content," so a mythical deep packet inspection device that could block illegal P2P transfers with 100 percent accuracy would still be allowed.
If enacted, the bill would allow any US Internet user to file a neutrality complaint with the FCC and receive a ruling within 90 days.
ARS Technica : http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/08/the-war-over-network-neutrality.ars
The war over network neutrality has been fought in the last two Congresses, and last week's introduction of the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009" ( http://markey.house.gov/images/PDFs/netneutralitybill.pdf : PDF ) means that legislators will duke it out a third time. Should the bill pass, Internet service providers will not be able to "block, interfere with, discriminate against, impair, or degrade" access to any lawful content from any lawful application or device.
Rulemaking and enforcement of network neutrality would be given to the Federal Communications Commission, which would also be given the unenviable job of hashing out what constitutes "reasonable network management"--something explicitly allowed by the bill.
Neutrality would also not apply to the access and transfer of unlawful information, including "theft of content," so a mythical deep packet inspection device that could block illegal P2P transfers with 100 percent accuracy would still be allowed.
If enacted, the bill would allow any US Internet user to file a neutrality complaint with the FCC and receive a ruling within 90 days.
ARS Technica : http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/08/the-war-over-network-neutrality.ars
