Judiciary Debates Net Neutrality

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard from both sides of the network neutrality debate Wednesday in a hearing on the implications of the FCC's efforts to restore network neutrality rules — deadline for comment on that effort was Sept. 15. Sen. Richard Blumenthal raised the specter of ISP's suppressing speech, while Sen. Ted Cruz, suggesting things don't go better with net neutrality, likened FCC regs to nanny-state restrictions on the size of soft drinks.

Democrats pushed for Internet rules of the road, while Republicans argued the virtuous cycle of investment and innovation would be threatened.

Net neutrality fan Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who is no fan of paid priority, went beyond the economics to argue about speech concerns. He suggested that under such a regime, Comcast could favor its NBC News by making sure subs got it faster than other news sites.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.