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Hillary Calls for 'Net Neutrality'
Sen. Hillary Clinton has thrown her support behind "network neutrality” regulations that conservatives say mark the first major attempt by the federal government to regulate the Internet.
In a mass e-mail to supporters, Clinton writes: "I want to tell you a little bit about Net neutrality, why I believe it’s so important to our democracy, and what you can do to help.”
In the Net neutrality debate, cable and telephone companies that provide Internet service, including AT&T and Verizon, are pitted against major Internet players like Google and Amazon and large-scale users, like the left-wing MoveOn.org.
The Internet providers are lobbying to create a two-tiered Internet in which Web sites that pay them large fees would get priority, including faster loading.
Users like MoveOn – and Clinton – support Net neutrality legislation that would require all Web sites to continue to be treated equally.
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But a group of 24 conservative organizations has formed the Internet Freedom Coalition (IFC) to oppose the legislation, warning that it would open the door to U.S. government regulation of the Internet, allowing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to use this issue to sink its claws into the currently unfettered Internet.
Clinton, however, is firmly behind the move. In her e-mail, she acknowledges: "Today, the Internet is an open marketplace of ideas where anyone can join in . . . New technology is giving a wide variety of citizens the voice to speak out . . ." But after lauding the openness and independence of the Internet, Clinton goes on to call for government interference, writing: "I’ve become an original co-sponsor of the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, which would prevent Internet service providers from blocking, degrading, or giving a lower priority service on their networks.”
Clinton asks e-mail recipients to sign on as a "citizen co-sponsor” of the Act – and provides a link to a site soliciting contributions to her Senate campaign.
The Net neutrality issue has made for strange bedfellows. Mike McCurry, former press secretary for President Bill Clinton, is now co-chair of the group Hands Off the Internet, which opposes the legislation Hillary supports. He said: "Hypothetical problems are no justification for giving the FCC and other government regulators the power to decide how the Internet will evolve.”
And IFC co-director Jason Wright has warned: "Network neutrality is the first giant leap toward government regulation of the Internet.”
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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