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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Ben Scott, Free Press Policy Director, 301-801-5618
Jeannine Kenney, Consumers Union Senior Policy Analyst, 202-238-9249

June 28, 2006

Fight for Internet Freedom Moves to Senate Floor

Free Press, Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America Respond to Senate Commerce Committee Tie Vote on Net Neutrality

WASHINGTON - The Senate Commerce Committee fell a single vote short of passing an amendment to safeguard the free and open Internet as momentum builds toward a full Senate vote on Net Neutrality.

Offered by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), the amendment to Senator Stevens' telecommunications bill (S. 2686) would have ensured meaningful protection for Net Neutrality, preventing big phone and cable companies from turning the Internet into their private tollway.

The amendment failed by a tie vote of 11-11. All ten Democratic committee members voted in favor with Senator Snowe. The eleven remaining Republican members voted against the amendment.

In response to the vote, Free Press, the Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America made the following statement:

Ben Scott, Policy Director, Free Press:

"The tie vote in the Commerce Committee shows the gathering momentum for Network Neutrality across political lines. In the past several weeks, this fundamental principle has moved from obscurity to the center stage in the debate over our nation's telecommunications policy. The issue of Net Neutrality will continue to gain speed as the full Senate takes up a bill that will determine the fate of Internet freedom.

"The voices of millions of average citizens are just starting to break through the misinformation and lies being peddled by the big phone and cable companies who want to erect tollbooths on the Internet. Across the country, people are catching on to these companies' plans, and they won't forget which leaders stood up for the public interest.

"We applaud the bipartisan leadership of Senators Snowe and Dorgan on this crucial issue, and thank all of the senators who will carry on the fight for a free and open Internet as this legislation moves forward."

Jeannine Kenney, Senior Policy Analyst, Consumers Union:

"The network neutrality nondiscrimination principle, which protects competition, maximizes consumer choice, and guarantees fair market practices, is one step closer to being abandoned with the Senate Commerce Committee's vote. This endangers the most important engine for economic growth and democratic communication in modern society. Nondiscrimination made possible the grand successes of the Internet. Its removal can take them away.

"The biggest winners today are big money and special interest industry groups -- and no one else. But this fight is far from over. The public can win back Internet freedom by ringing up their Senators and telling them that consumers need more broadband choices than monopoly cable and phone providers that discriminate."

Mark Cooper, Director of Consumer Research, Consumer Federation of America:

"The Committee today handed telephone and cable companies a license to be the gatekeepers for consumers' access to their online services and information providers.

"Unless the rest of the Senate stands up for the public interest, consumers can kiss goodbye the wide array of low-cost, competitive choices and stunning innovation that the Internet has brought them. It is consumers, and not the bells and cable giants, who get to choose who wins and loses in the online marketplace."

Free Press, Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America are members of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition , a broad grassroots campaign involving more than 750 organizations, one million Americans and 7,000 bloggers in support of meaningful and enforceable Net Neutrality legislation.