Democrat wants to bar U.S. Internet premiums

Ken Belson
International Herald Tribune
03-03-2006
Internet network operators in the United States would be prohibited from charging companies for faster delivery of their content to consumers or favoring some content providers over others under a new proposal from a Senate Democrat.The senator, Ron Wyden of Oregon, said in advance of his bill's introduction Thursday that he wanted to ease growing fears that open Internet access could be blocked or compromised by the Bell phone carriers or cable operators, possibly creating tiers of service for delivering content to consumers, much the way the post office charges more for overnight mail delivery than for regular delivery.Consumer groups and Internet companies like Google and Amazon contend that any move by the network operators to impose fees for premium delivery service would harm Web sites unwilling to pay for faster delivery. The Wyden legislation, the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006, aims to prohibit network operators from assessing charges that give some content providers better access than others or blocking subscribers from accessing content.''You best compete by letting every company play on a level field, but these proposals would tilt the field,'' Wyden said of the plans discussed by some network operators.He added that his bill would prevent network operators from giving preferential treatment to affiliated companies. Time Warner Cable, he said, should not be able to give other Time Warner companies better access to the network than their rivals.The bill more squarely deals with the concerns of consumer groups than a broader bill proposed last summer by a Republican senator, John Ensign of Nevada. That bill, which has won support from 16 Republican senators, would prevent Internet service providers from blocking access, but would largely leave network operators to manage their own networks, including potentially charging content providers for a premium service.The Federal Communications Commission has largely stood on the sidelines as this debate has evolved. Though the commission has said it supports the principle of open, undifferentiated access to the networks, it has not taken any regulatory action. Phone and cable companies are of the view that they should be able to offer Internet companies the option of paying for faster delivery of their content.

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