Page 312 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Net Neutral ty | 1

would not be required to offer broadband Internet on the same nondiscriminatory
basis that has been the foundation of the Internet.
11. On June 27, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cable companies are not re-
quired to share their cables with other ISPs.

ThE nET nEuTraLiTy DEBaTE hEaTs uP
The Net Neutrality debate began to heat up in early 2006 as a House Energy
and Commerce Committee bill was tabled that included the provisions es-
sentially mandating Net Neutrality. On one side ISPs like AT&T, Verizon, and
Comcast lobbied hard to remove Net Neutrality provisions from the bill, while
civil society groups like Free Press and the Center for Digital Democracy began
rallying public support for Net Neutrality.
On April 24, 2006, a band of consumer and public interest groups calling it-
self The SavetheInternet.com Coalition, launched a campaign claiming to “de-
fend the free and open Internet.” Charter members of the SavetheInternet.com
Coalition include: Professors Larry Lessig of Stanford University and Tim Wu
of Columbia University, Free Press, Gun Owners of America, right-of-center
Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynolds, MoveOn.org Civic Action, Consumers
Union, Consumer Federation of America, Public Knowledge, Common Cause,
the American Library Association and U.S. PIRG. Later the coalition swelled
to “more than a million everyday people who have banded together with thou-
sands of non-profit organizations, businesses and bloggers” (see http://www.
savetheinternet.com/=coalition).
Around the same time the SavetheInternet.com Coalition formed, an anti–
Net Neutrality coalition dominated by corporations with a financial stake in an
unregulated Internet, called HandsOff TheInternet, began advocating against
Net Neutrality rules.
On June 8, 2006, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the
Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act (HR
5252) with a 321–101 vote, without the accompanying Network Neutrality Act
(HR 5273). The Net Neutrality Act would have essentially made Net Neutrality
an enforceable law.
After the COPE Act passed, the house the bill moved to Senate, with advo-
cates on either sides engaging in a fierce battle to sway this critical vote. Support-
ers of the COPE Act claimed the bill would support innovation and freedom of
choice. Net Neutrality advocates said that its passage would make ISPs gatekeep-
ers of the Internet.
The June 28, 2006, Senate vote on a Net Neutrality friendly amendment of-
fered by senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), fell to
a 11–11 tie. Shortly after, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) placed a “hold” on
the COPE Act legislation essentially stalling the bill until changes were made.
HandsOff TheInternet claimed that this sticks consumers with a high bill and
lets big new media corporation off the hook. They also claimed that they have