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from: MultiChannel News

Inouye Rips New Stevens Draft Bill
By Ted Hearn6/19/2006 2:05:00 PM

Washington – The top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee Monday refused to endorse the newest version of a sweeping telecommunications bill sponsored by chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), calling the third draft released last Friday “a further step backward for consumers.”

from: Toronto Star

An Internet rigged by providers?
Jun. 19, 2006. 07:14 AM
ANTONIA ZERBISIAS

If you're like many Canadians, you hate the way you have to take — and pay for — TV channels you never watch just to get those channels you do watch.

from: Ars Technica

Senate bill compromise paves the way for "Net Neutrality Lite"

6/18/2006

A vote on one telecommunications bill that seeks to address Net Neutrality is expected later this week, but just what will be voted on is far from clear. Dubbed the Communications, Consumer’s Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 (S.2686), the Senate bill backed by Ted Stevens (R-AK) could be voted on as early as this Thursday, June 22. The vote would take place in the Commerce Committee's weekly session, a necessary step before reaching the attention of the full Senate.

Sen. Stevens offers deal on Net neutrality

Sun Jun 18, 2006 4:13 PM ET

By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Commerce Committee
Chairman Ted Stevens has offered a compromise in
the fierce fight over legislation on Internet
network neutrality, but stopped short of demands
sought by content companies like Google Inc.

Google, Microsoft Corp. and other Internet

from: MultiChannel News

Net Neutrality to Change in Stevens Bill
By Ted Hearn 6/19/2006

Washington— A Senate telecommunications bill is expected to be modified this week to accommodate legislators’ concerns about potential discriminatory conduct by cable, phone and other broadband-access providers that could affect Internet services.

from: Washington Times

Cable act seen hurting localities

By Jacqueline Palank
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published June 16, 2006

Counties and cities that broker their own cable service deals in the Washington area are worried that recent efforts to shift control to the state and federal levels would hurt customer service and local programming.

Long Story Short: The 2006 Rewrite of U.S. Communications Policy

By Lauren-Glenn Davitian,
Center for Media & Democracy (VT)
davitian@cctv.org

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a National Video Franchising bill on June 8th 2006. This bill, known as COPE—the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006 (H5252)—permits the telephone companies to get quickly into the cable TV business by sidestepping local government approval (franchises) in favor of national service approval from the FCC. The Senate will by Senator Ted Stevens – R/ Alaska, raises many of the same public interest concerns in COPE. By moving into the video business the phone companies will control both access to networks and content, much like the cable companies do today. If allowed to do so under the conditions proposed in these bills, there are serious questions about the future of open networks and prospects for real competition on the Internet (a/k/a net neutrality). Other areas of concern include: local management of the public rights of way, the redlining low income and rural communities and long term protections for public, educational and government access media.

from: Mercury News
Also Read Davey D's Open Letter to Hip Hop.

Hip-hop’s Next Big Stop: Capitol Hill

From Mercury News, June 15, 2006
By Davey D

Friday marks what would have been the 35th birthday of slain rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur, and this year is the 10th anniversary of his death.

We revisit this story because it's worth remembering as the Senate vote looms. The Telcos have already received 200 Billion in subsidies and tax abatements and have failed to deliver the promised services. Now they want further deregulation that will effect how we receive information via the internet and television.

Additional stories:
“The $200 Billion Broadband Scandal.” — AKA Where’s the 45MB/s I Already Paid for!

from: Tech Soup

What Will Tiered Internet Access Mean for NPOs?
Why nonprofits must join the fight to keep the net neutral

By: Henry Kumagai

June 12, 2006

Imagine if your nonprofit had to pay a fee to your Internet service provider in order for your Web site to turn up on search-engine results. Or what if your constituents could only access your site on a slower, more unreliable connection — unless you made a higher monthly payment to your ISP?