• Information Week, Wednesday, January 10, 2007 11 AM

The 110th Congress has wasted no time introducing the next network neutrality act. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced the Freedom Preservation Act of 2007, less than two weeks after AT&T, the country's largest telecom company, was forced by the Federal Communications Commission to commit to network neutrality in its merger with BellSouth. The introduction of the bill drew immediate praise from groups that lobbied for network neutrality legislation last year.

Now that the new AT&T (formerly SBC and BellSouth-two of the biggest lobbying arms against net neutrality last year) has dropped out of the debate and the Democrats have taken over Congress, many expect a net neutrality bill to pass.

"The Internet became a robust engine of economic development by enabling anyone with a good idea to connect to consumers and compete on a level playing field," Dorgan said. "The marketplace picked winners and losers, not some central gatekeeper."

Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and Barack Obama (D-IL) are co-sponsoring the latest network neutrality bill.

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