Net neutrality not going away

Proponents of Net neutrality are vowing to keep fighting well past this fall's election and say their grassroots movement is gaining ground.

There is increased skepticism that any telecom bill will pass this fall, because of the short congressional session in advance of the election and some opposition in the Senate to Sen. Ted Stevens' (R-Alaska) pending telecom reform bill. That opposition includes Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who has placed a procedural “hold” on the bill because it lacks Net neutrality provisions.

The leaders of SavetheInternet.com and the It's Our Net Coalition say they will keep building grassroots support for Net neutrality legislation with the intent of making it part of any telecom reform that takes place in 2007. So far, SavetheInternet.com has collected 1.1 million petition signatures. In August, they visited the home offices of 20 U.S. senators with groups of between 20 and 50 citizens to reinforce the nature of the opposition. Four more U.S. senators — Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) and Sen. James Jeffords (Ind.-Vermont) — are now supporting Net neutrality.

“We would be quite happy to sit down tomorrow and negotiate a deal with the other side where we put Net neutrality into the telecom bill and pass it this year,” said Ben Scott, policy director of FreePress and SavetheInternet.com. “Failing that, we will come back next year, and we will be at the head of a massive movement that will have grown because we will keep building it, and we will have solid support to do Net neutrality next year. Realistically, it is likely to be attached to a larger telecom vehicle next year. But with sufficient pressure from below, there could be a stand-alone Net neutrality bill.”

Meanwhile, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association is taking its anti-Net neutrality campaign to a bigger stage, showing 30-second TV spots, which dismiss the debate as “mumbo jumbo,” nationally.

Scott claims the cable and telephone companies have spent $50 million in advertising inside the Washington Beltway to sway members of Congress. “I think the momentum is very clearly on our side,” he said. “This is organized money versus organized people. The fact that Congress hasn't recognized the robust support from small businesses is because the big companies are spending millions to keep their voices from being heard.”

Evan Tracey of TNS Media Intelligence/cmag, however, said the $50 million is total ad spending for advocacy issues and not just Net Neutrality ads.