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Angry Web Firms Protest New Bill Neglecting Net Neutrality

Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are protesting a new bill thatconspicuously-- would not regulate how broadband operators organize their networks. In a letter to the bill's author, Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton, the companies said the proposed bill "would fail to protect the Internet." Barton, in crafting the document, has clearly sided with the telecommunications companies, which include major phone and cable firms, and collectively form one of Washington's most powerful lobbying forces. According to Cnet, the Web industry is currently being outspent in Washington by a 3-1 margin. The Web firms support the idea of network neutrality, which says that companies who own the broadband networks should not be able to configure their networks in a way that plays favorites, meaning they should not, for example, be able to transmit their own services at faster speeds than competing services, or charge Web firms for faster delivery of their content. Web companies had been hoping Barton's Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act would mandate net neutrality. Well, it didn't, and now the Web majors are aligning for a lengthy battle with telco providers.

Read the whole story at Cnet News.com »

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