Senate Votes Down Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules
By a vote of 52 to 46, the US Senate on Thursday rejected an appeal of the Federal Communications Commission's so-called net neutrality rules, which are set to go into effect in just a few days. The vote was closely tied to party lines, with Democrats opposing the bill and Republicans supporting it. Had the appeal been passed, and made its way through the House as well, President Obama had vowed to veto the measure, anyway.
Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, who sponsored the bill, claims that the neutrality rules will interfere with innovation and investment by constricting the open nature on which the Internet has thrived to this point. "The internet and technology have produced more jobs in this country than just about any other sector," she said in a statement. "It has been the cradle of innovation, it does not have a problem, and it does not need fixing."
Republican legislators are not alone in their opposition to the net neutrality rules, as a number of wireless providers have voiced opposition, including regional carrier Metro PCS, which filed a formal appeal in late September. The issue has been debated for over a year now, and the new rules, adopted by the FCC in a 3-2 vote last December, and go into effect next week.
Essentially, the net neutrality rules forbid service providers from favoring or discriminating against content or services by limiting the amount of bandwidth on which they can exist. They were drafted in response to some providers slowing down the signals from data hogging services like Netflix video streaming. The rules require broadband providers to allow their subscribers to access all legal online content, while also prohibiting wireless carriers from blocking access to any websites.
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