WASHINGTON-The Senate Commerce Committee seemed cool to the idea that broadband-pipe owners should be able to require some bandwidth hogs-like Voice over Internet Protocol providers, Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.-to pay to access their broadband pipes.
“I think the refrain of this committee ought to be to keep the Internet free,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) at a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee on network neutrality.
The network-neutrality hearing is one of several being held by the Senate Commerce Committee as it examines the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The act celebrated its 10-year anniversary last week.
What is network neutrality? In general, it is allowing users access to any lawful content over the network of their choice. But Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, told reporters after the meeting the specifics are less clear. “There seems to be a difference of opinion expressed right here at the table of what is neutrality … but I do think that network neutrality should be the basic principle of whatever legislation we pursue,” said Stevens.
The hearing came on the same day that the Washington Post ran a story quoting a Verizon Communications Inc. executive saying that Google is “free loading” on the investments the Bell and cable companies made to build their high-speed networks.
“It is not a free lunch. I have already paid the toll,” countered Dorgan.
After the hearing, a Verizon representative stressed to reporters that its current business model would not limit access to Google or other such companies.
While Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) agreed that the Internet should remain free, he said he was worried that Congress would prematurely legislate in the area of network neutrality.
In addition to Google, which appeared at the hearing to call for network neutrality, Vonage Holdings Corp. said its VoIP service has been blocked. Indeed, last year wireless broadband service provider Clearwire Corp. blocked Vonage service and Vonage was forced to come up with a work-around solution to get past Clearwire’s technical blocking. Clearwire and cable companies believe they are classified as information service providers, and as such, can block large bandwidth users. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin noted that a decision has not been reached about whether information services can block consumer access to legitimate content. The FCC has ruled that telecom carriers cannot block customers from accessing VoIP services. The agency also changed the regulatory status of digital subscriber lines to information services. At the same time, the FCC announced principles of network neutrality. The principles, however, do not have the power of a regulatory rule and could be trumped by a regulation at any time.
A network-neutrality rule, either enacted into law by Congress or adopted as a regulation, likely would prohibit the type of blocking Clearwire tried.
The House of Representatives wants to rewrite the telecom act sooner rather than later. Stevens said the Senate Commerce Committee would wait until the end of the hearings, slated for March, before considering any legislation rewrite.
