I just watched the webcast of the Energy and Commerce Committee's "opening statements" session on the Barton/Rush bill (the "Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006"). There were many empty chairs. Ohio's sole representative was GOP Congressman (and national franchising enthusiast) Paul Gillmor.
No sign of Sherrod Brown. Or Ted Strickland.
I wonder if they'll be in the room when the Committee gets down to the business of carving up the open Internet -- and what remains of local community initiative -- tomorrow morning.
(Kudos to Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania, who seem to have actually gone home during the recess and talked to some city officials in their districts about the bill's impact.)
IT'S FINALLY NEWS IN CLEVELAND
Yes, the words "net neutrality" have finally appeared in the Plain Dealer, courtesy of Cox News Service (the article is on the first page of today's business section but not on line.) Better late than never, I suppose.
Here's Save The Internet, the coalition described in the article. Among the extremely diverse groups joining to demand stronger protection of the open Internet are the Ohio Community Computing Network (disclosure: I'm the president of the OCCN board) and our national mother ship, the Community Technology Centers Network.
The PD's headline refers to the Energy and Commerce bill as "bipartisan". This in itself is a victory for the Republican majority, courtesy of Chicago's Black Panther Congressman, Bobby Rush. Selling out ordinary consumers, small businesses and communities to please major industry lobbyists -- and their check-writers -- is often a bipartisan undertaking in the Congress.
This map shows just how few (eight) of the fifteen Democrats on the Telecom and Internet Subcommittee showed up and voted for the net neutrality amendment offered by their leaders, Dingell and Markey, when the bill was "marked up" two weeks ago. (Note that Ohio's Sherrod Brown was not among them.) What will the map look like after the full E&C Committee does its business on this bill tomorrow? Will there be many more green dots? Stay tuned.
(Keep up to date with the Free Press news page. Also, Josh Marshall weighs in.)
Update: Harold Feld at wetmachine says there will be a move in tomorrow's markup to gut Section 401(a), which guarantees communities' "right to network" without state or Federal interference:
I am informed that Representative Steve Buyer from the state of Indiana will introduce an amendment tomorrow seeking to eliminate the good language on muni broadband with language similar to that in the Ensign Telecom rewrite bill that requires local governments to get permission from private industry before building a network (aka the “Pennsylvania Plan”).
... I fear that with all the focus network neutrality and local franchising, that people will lose track of one of the few good things in the bill and let it slip away.