'Net Neutrality' Gets A Summer Sales Pitch

'NET NEUTRALITY' GETS A SUMMER SALES PITCH
[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: Heather Greenfield]
People who are still neutral on network neutrality probably have not heard of it yet. Over the August congressional recess, opponents and proponents of legislation that would prohibit high-speed Internet providers from potentially slowing competitors' content worked to change that. Both sides took their battle from Capitol Hill to lawmakers' communities and Americans' homes. Opponents of net neutrality used cable television, and supporters of the concept used the Internet itself to make their case, with thousands of petitions delivered to Senate offices in 25 cities. The National Cable and Telecommunications Association began airing advertisements in some cable markets in August and took the campaign nationwide Sept. 1. Brian Dietz, a spokesman for NCTA, said the ads could reach tens of millions of viewers and will run through the fall, "especially as this issue is being discussed." He declined to identify where the ads will run or what they will cost. So far, the group has collected 1.1 million signatures from people concerned about the FCC dissolving net neutrality protections last summer and what will result if Congress waits for bad conduct before reinstating ground rules against content discrimination. The group's Web site says that 26 senators strongly favor net neutrality legislation and that 14 oppose it. The opponent list reads much like the Republican roster on the Senate Commerce Committee, with the exception of Maine's Olympia Snowe, who sponsored a net neutrality amendment to a pending telecom bill. Leslie Harris, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, said that despite a big grassroots effort, net neutrality is not necessarily an issue senators will have to take a position on in time for the November election.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-EFSJ1157568115993.htm...