Will Two Congress Bills Limit Web Use Freedoms?
For the last few years, a coalition of technology companies, academics and computer programmers has been trying to persuade Congress to scale back the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Now Congress is preparing to do precisely the opposite. A proposed copyright law seen by CNET News.com would expand the DMCA’s restrictions on software that can bypass copy protections and grant federal police more wiretapping and enforcement powers
The other issue is Network Neutrality:
Here are notes on a Congressional Hearing scheduled for tomorrow.
Here is what Robert McChesney of Free Press says about the legislation: :
Congress is about to sell out the Internet by letting big phone and cable companies set up toll booths along the information superhighway.
Companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are spending tens of millions in Washington to kill “network neutrality” –a principle that keeps the Internet open to all.
A bill moving quickly through Congress would let these companies become Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow — and which won’t load at all–based on who pays them
more. The rest of us will be detoured to the “slow lane,” clicking furiously and waiting for our favorite sites to
download.
Here is more from the McChesney point of view.
