• Reuters, Friday, November 14, 2008 11:45 AM

Reuters reports that another U.S. lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that would bar the likes of AT&T from offering Web companies faster content delivery speeds at a premium, in a renewed battle over network neutrality. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) who introduced the bill, thinks a network neutrality law is the only way to prevent phone and cable companies from discriminating against Web content. "We feel that legislation is definitely necessary," said Frannie Wellings, telecom counsel to Dorgan, speaking at a recent University of Nebraska law school event. According to Reuters, Dorgan will be among the highest ranking Democrats on the Senate's Commerce Committee when it reconvenes in January.

There are two sides to the net neutrality argument. On the one hand, ISPs like Comcast and AT&T say they need tiered content delivery service to better manage their congested Web traffic. Content companies like Google and Microsoft say the ISPs hold too much power to block or slowdown sites that requires more bandwidth, like Google's YouTube.

President-elect Barack Obama supports net neutrality legislation, as do many Democrats in Congress, Wellings said. Meanwhile, AT&T officials claim that regulators have already shown they have the authority to keep ISPs from managing their traffic. Recently, the Federal Communications Commission ordered Comcast to stop impeding certain users from sharing content.

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