That's a relief. I think I'll go e-mail the entire Senate.

One note on this bill - it doesn't really address Net Neutrality.  It could have - that's what the Markey amendment would have done (restored Net Neutrality principles that were stripped by a 2005 court decision).  But the underlying bill didn't diminish Net Neutrality any.  That's why the vote on the Markey amendment was the NN vote; the vote for final passage of the underlying bill is not a good gauge of NN support.  

So it seems to me the COPE bill moving to the Senate isn't the issue.  We should be focusing on trying to pass NN legislation as stand-alone bills, or as amendments to other legislation.  

I recall that in some other media/telecom issues, the senate has been less than receptive to the 'business interests.'  Specifically, I remember a few years ago the senate rejecting some new media ownership rules.  There was a public outcry and a concerted effort to appeal to senators to protect individual rights.

An examination of that occurence might help to identify and concentrate efforts.

Let's get out there and fight. It may not look like it but history is shifting to our side. The forces of liberty may be put aside temporarily but they come back. We are at the beginning of that turn of the wheel right now. If there was ever a time to act with confidence, it's now.

What's the fuss?  Internet2 was built with taxpayer money to provide universities, government agencies, and international corporate members a means for handling creativity and innovation for the future.  Our Internet, the one they refer to as the "commodity Internet" is the engine for economic growth and prosperity, by making us all pay, and pay, and pay.  Just another distribution medium.

Google the words, "commodity Internet", and see who uses it, and notice how many years back it has been used.  It's obvious that when McCurry steps in front of our elected representatives, he reminds them that they need to help the "commodity Internet" evolve.

It appears 106 Democrats voted in favor of this bill.

The Senate can certainly vote for net neutrality, but what will we do when the conference committee pulls it out of the bill?

We will have an easier time stopping the destruction of democracy when we band together and put our money where our mouths are.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Follow on to Caro -- what if no bill passes. I'm still confused about whether net neutrality describes the current state of affairs that would be changed by COPE or whether NN would be a new policy.

If Senate passes COPE with NN provision and there's no conference agreement (which could happen given how late its getting in the calendar), is that good or bad for us?

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll239. xml
is the important vote, for the NN ammendment.  Pleased to say that Colorado Dems Udall, Degett and Salazar all voted for it.

The vote for the overall bill is less important.

Nobody understands this but geeks.

Question:  why aren't companies like Microsoft, google, etc. putting big-time money into lobbying their side of the story to congress the way AT&T et al are doing?  

So Brin is worth 11 billion dollars but can only manage to do a half-assed job of lobbying for this cause?  Can they perhaps step it up a little?

And how about Microsoft?  

I guess my question comes from a very cynical place. These big players know that, ultimately, they will be able to pay the fees and negotiate the sweet deals with the telcos.  It's truly the little guys of every stripe and color who are going to get screwed.

ngay, thanks for pointing this out. This is not in any way "of the people". It is a bunch of billion dollar coroporations trying to make the other guy pay.

Also, there is plenty of packet prioritization going on, it is technologicaly necessary and works to consumers' benefit.  Most of us -- and I include myself -- are over our heads on this. Check out George Ou to get an idea.

Which is another good reason that Congress should not be legislating network architecture. We need to have all technological options on the table, regardless of how you feel about one corporation or the other.