UPDATE: As I was working on this diary, a nearly identical diary went up. It's a good diary and has gained traction, so I suggest we head over there to comment on net neutrality.
Meanwhile, this seems to be a place to complain about Sen. Feinstien and California in general. So, stand up for net neutrality and if you still need to gripe a little, you're welcome back here.
Thanks.
Public Knowledge, an Internet watchdog organization, is reporting Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), unsuccessfully attempted to place a "Network Management" amendment into the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program included in the Senate's economic recovery package. This "network management" is, according to the language, meant to be used to allow Internet Service Providers to block child pornography and copyright infringement. While it is not currently in the bill, it could be reinserted during conference committee meetings. Via Public Knowledge:
The House and Senate stimulus packages passed without copyright filtering language attached, but now the concern is that the language could return in the closed-door conference committee that works out the differences between the bills.
OK, so copyright infringement: bad. Child pornography: really bad. So, what's the problem? Public Knowledge sums it up pretty well:
1. Copyright infringement can’t be determined just by seeing what files are flowing over the network. There are fair and lawful uses for copyrighted works even without permission of the owner.
2. Filtering would require Internet companies to examine every bit of information everyone puts on the Web in order to find those allegedly infringing works, without a hint of probable cause. That would be a massive invasion of privacy, done at the request of one industry, violating the rights of everyone who is online.
While this may look like sensible legislation to stop child pornography and copyright infringement, it really is a network neutrality issue. We have seen enough erosion of constitutional rights to know making small, seemingly sensible, exceptions to basic rights is opening the door to disaster.
Sen. Feinstien's motives seem fairly transparent to me. Perhaps I am being too cynical, but the Motion Picture Association of America has a huge interest in stopping copyright infringement. Throwing child pornography in there makes it difficult to remove without cries of outrage.
Public Knowledge has a letter you can send to legislators asking them to stop this amendment from being put in the bill. Please research the issue and considering urging your representatives to support network neutrality.
On a side note, shouldn't we be able to do better than Sen. Feinstien in one of the most progressive states in the union?