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June 29, 2006
Senate Franchise Reform Bill Moves Forward
After vigorous debate on network neutrality, followed by a close vote to exclude such a provision from the final bill, the Senate Commerce and Energy Committee approved a telecommunications reform bill 15-7 yesterday.
The bill has yet to be placed on the Senate calendar. The bill, S. 2686, substantially revised from its first draft, creates a national video franchising process that will let telephone companies enter local markets faster—accelerating the spread of cable and broadband competition.
Prior to the vote, the committee tied 11-11 on a network neutrality provision that would have prevented Internet service providers from offering content and applications providers any fee-based quality of service tiers. The provision was therefore dropped. It was another defeat for network neutrality, a regulatory scheme heavily favored by Google, Yahoo, eBay and Amazon.com, who maintain hundreds of thousands of servers on the Web and plan to aggregate content, commerce, advertising and other bandwidth-intensive services.
Network neutrality may emerge again in a floor fight. In the House, Rep. Edward Markey (D., Mass.) introduced an amendment to the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006, but the measure was defeated in a voice vote. COPE went on to pass the House. If the Senate bill passes the two will go to joint conference.
Sen. Ron Wydon (D., Ore.), a network neutrality supporter (whose home state just saw a major infusion of Google investment capital) promises to filibuster a net neutrality amendment. Patrick Ross of the Progress & Freedom Foundation takes some of Wydon to task on some of his notions about the Internet here.
Posted by steve.titch at June 29, 2006 01:57 PM
I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen, but I don't care. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten91131 at January 25, 2007 02:53 PM
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I just don't have anything to say , but shrug. So it goes. Not much on my mind recently. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten49703 at January 26, 2007 08:24 AM
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I can't be bothered with anything these days, but such is life. I don't care. So it goes. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. I've just been hanging out waiting for something to happen, but that's how it is.
Comment by: Sten51946 at January 27, 2007 04:18 PM
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I can't be bothered with anything these days, but such is life. I don't care. So it goes. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. I've just been hanging out waiting for something to happen, but that's how it is.
Comment by: Sten99973 at January 27, 2007 11:36 PM
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My life's been pretty dull recently. Shrug. My mind is like a void. I haven't gotten anything done lately. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten95846 at January 28, 2007 10:45 AM
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Basically nothing noteworthy happening right now, but eh. Today was a complete loss. I haven't been up to much recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten48003 at January 29, 2007 01:05 AM
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I haven't been up to anything today. I don't care. I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. Basically not much happening right now. Maybe tomorrow. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten11348 at January 29, 2007 03:17 AM
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I just don't have anything to say. Not that it matters. Eh. I've just been staying at home doing nothing, but I don't care. That's how it is.
Comment by: Sten44083 at January 29, 2007 06:51 PM
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I haven't been up to anything today. I can't be bothered with anything recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about. I haven't gotten anything done recently, but oh well. Not much noteworthy going on worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten12238 at January 29, 2007 08:28 PM
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Basically nothing noteworthy happening right now, but eh. Today was a complete loss. I haven't been up to much recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten77896 at January 30, 2007 02:07 AM
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I haven't gotten anything done today. I feel like a fog, but what can I say? I've just been letting everything wash over me lately, not that it matters. Shrug.
Comment by: Sten86687 at January 30, 2007 07:51 AM
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I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.
Comment by: Sten77032 at January 31, 2007 07:22 AM
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I can't be bothered with anything these days, but such is life. I don't care. So it goes. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. I've just been hanging out waiting for something to happen, but that's how it is.
Comment by: Sten54067 at January 31, 2007 07:44 PM
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Basically nothing noteworthy happening right now, but eh. Today was a complete loss. I haven't been up to much recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten41086 at February 1, 2007 12:26 AM
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Basically nothing noteworthy happening right now, but eh. Today was a complete loss. I haven't been up to much recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten11254 at February 1, 2007 04:06 PM
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Basically nothing noteworthy happening right now, but eh. Today was a complete loss. I haven't been up to much recently. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten29250 at February 1, 2007 09:46 PM
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My life's been basically bland today. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. My mind is like an empty room. I've more or less been doing nothing to speak of. Not much on my mind recently.
Comment by: Sten54440 at February 2, 2007 03:48 AM
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I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. What can I say? I've basically been doing nothing worth mentioning, but pfft. Not that it matters. Pretty much nothing exciting happening to speak of. I haven't been up to much these days.
Comment by: Sten34458 at February 2, 2007 07:35 AM
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I can't be bothered with anything these days, but such is life. I don't care. So it goes. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. I've just been hanging out waiting for something to happen, but that's how it is.
Comment by: Sten36935 at February 2, 2007 12:12 PM
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I can't be bothered with anything these days, but such is life. I don't care. So it goes. More or less nothing seems worth thinking about. I've just been hanging out waiting for something to happen, but that's how it is.
Comment by: Sten72005 at February 3, 2007 01:18 AM
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I haven't been up to anything today. I can't be bothered with anything recently. Nothing seems worth thinking about. I haven't gotten anything done recently, but oh well. Not much noteworthy going on worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten45748 at February 4, 2007 03:30 AM
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I haven't been up to much today. I've just been letting everything happen without me. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. I've just been hanging out doing nothing. I just don't have anything to say right now. More or less nothing happening.
Comment by: Sten7226 at February 4, 2007 12:10 PM
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I just don't have much to say recently. Such is life. I've basically been doing nothing. Basically nothing seems worth bothering with. Oh well.
Comment by: Sten66180 at February 4, 2007 04:50 PM
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I've just been staying at home waiting for something to happen, but I don't care. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten45447 at February 4, 2007 08:40 PM
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My life's been pretty dull recently. Shrug. My mind is like a void. I haven't gotten anything done lately. I can't be bothered with anything recently.
Comment by: Sten11264 at February 4, 2007 11:17 PM
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I haven't been up to anything today. I don't care. I've just been staying at home not getting anything done. Basically not much happening right now. Maybe tomorrow. I guess it doesn't bother me.
Comment by: Sten37997 at February 5, 2007 09:58 AM
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Not much on my mind right now, but it's not important. I've just been letting everything happen without me. I just don't have anything to say right now.
Comment by: Sten59891 at February 5, 2007 09:25 PM
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I feel like a complete blank, but I don't care. Pfft. I've pretty much been doing nothing worth mentioning.
Comment by: Sten61892 at February 6, 2007 08:22 AM
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