freedom on the internet threatened by congress 2006 (part 2 of 2)

The US House of Representatives passed the COPE Act in the dead of night by a three to one margin despite the efforts of those working in the public interest. The bill, which was largely written by the Bell Telephone companies, will fundamentally change the ability of our cities to control and be compensated for the use of public land on which the cable and internet systems depend. The Alliance was able to avert a last minute disaster-- an amendment which would have stripped as much as 1/2 of funding for PEG centers on top of the potential losses already in the bill. This was due to a last minute understanding between the Alliance and Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee who graciously withdrew the amendment. She should be commended for her understanding. The Senate is working on similar legislation. Time requires that those who care about Access and the internet speak loudly to prevent the same bad legislation from passing through the Senate.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Alliance
• for
• Community
• Media
• access
• PEG
• ACM
• NFLCP
• Internet
• news
• centers
• cable
• tv
• non-profit
• democracy