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Former IP Czar Downplays 'Net Neutrality' Legislation
Forbes.com published an op-ed Friday written by former Bush administration IP czar Chris Israel. In it, the Institute for Policy Innovation fellow discusses the recent announcement made by Comcast and BitTorrent that they will work together to find a market-based solution to challenges posed by the bandwidth demands of peer-to-peer file sharing.
According to Israel, the news "further demonstrates that an intrusive government 'network neutrality' regime is not necessary, and this provides a more promising future for protecting intellectual property online." In the debate over net neutrality, he writes, the issue of who gets to do what with the network they built has been the main sticking point while stopping the flow of illegal content has played a somewhat secondary role.
Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., added to the ongoing debate over the topic on Capitol Hill on Thursday by introducing a bill that would require pipeline providers to interconnect on "a reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis" and ensure all legal content, applications and services have an equal opportunity to reach consumers.
Their bill, which approaches net neutrality from an antitrust angle, differs from a measure introduced by Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey, D-Mass., which is FCC-focused. Read CongressDaily's latest coverage here.
Posted by Andrew on May 9, 2008 02:09 PM | Permalink
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