And so it is that by a resounding 269-152 vote, the Republican-led House of Representatives defeated a Democrat-backed amendment that would have mandated a stiffly regulated federal Net Neutrality
law. The law would have prevented broadband providers like Cox Communications from treating some Internet sites (like Craigslist) differently from others. Yesterday we mentioned that Cox--perhaps
inadvertently--is using security software that blocks its users from accessing the online classifieds site Craigslist. As it turns out, House members voted largely along party lines, with the vast
majority of Democrats supporting Net Neutrality, while Republicans were generally opposed to it. As Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey warned: "The future Sergey Brins...are going to have to pay taxes
to broadband providers." He said the vote would change "the Internet for the rest of eternity." Google, Yahoo, eBay, and other Web companies have fiercely lobbied in favor of Net Neutrality, also
adopting the "Save the Internet" maxim. Republicans countered that more extensive rules than the antitrust laws that are already in effect would discourage investment in wiring American homes with
higher-speed connections.
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