isen.blog

The vote on the Network Neutrality amendment to the Stevens telecom bill was 11-11 in the Senate Commerce Committee yesterday. Even though this tie means that the NN amendment was not adopted, it is a show of strength that will not be ignored by the full Senate. USAToday has a good article on the increased resistance to the Stevens Bill. The WSJ says, " . . . disagreement over [net neutrality] now threatens to scuttle Congress's effort to rewrite the nation's telecommunications laws this year." Senator Ron Wyden, who introduced the first NN amendment in the Senate, has promised to hold the bill -- a privilege that any Senator can exercise single-handedly. And Stevens said yesterday that he does not have the 60 votes needed to force a Senate floor vote. So it looks good.

In fact, six weeks ago, I couldn't have dreamed it'd look this good! Woo hoo!

New allies are still arriving in the Network Neutrality camp daily. Recently the Joint Powers Authority of 17 Silicon Valley cities and San Mateo County, representing some 600,000 silicon valley citizens, announced support for Network Neutrality. Every customer of a connection provider could, potentially, be affected.

Beware! The bill is not dead yet. Do BOTH of your senators know how you feel about Network Neutrality? Does your employer understand the impact of telco gatekeeping on its business? Does your organization have an Internet presence that could be slow-laned? Make sure they (and you) go public, soon, before the Senate floor vote!

Technorati Tags: F2C, NetworkNeutrality, Press