Senators want probe on content blocking
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Two Senators on Friday called for a congressional hearing to investigate reports that phone and cable companies are unfairly stifling communications over the Internet and on cell phones.
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Social networking sites too Social networking sites and message boards face the same regulatory burden as internet service providers (ISPs) in a new bill proposed by ex-US presidential candidate John McCain. McCain wants sites to report all child pornography to authorities.â¦
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A Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday proposed legislation to stop network providers from playing traffic cop on the Internet.
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The Senate reopens debate on a bill that would protect from prosecution anyone who helped with President Bush's warrantless spying on Americans. Immunity would extend to telecom companies and the president himself.  Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut) reasserts his threat to block the measure.
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House and Senate lawmakers have agreed to increase fines on broadcasters who air indecent material, and are trying to include the measure as an amendment to a defense bill, Sen. Sam Brownback said on Tuesday.
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A senior lawmaker said on Wednesday  he had introduced legislation designed to prevent broadband  Internet providers from unreasonable interference with  subscribers' access to content.
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U.S. communications regulators are  expected to approve on Tuesday a plan to loosen media ownership  restrictions, despite objections from consumer groups and a  threat by some U.S. senators to revoke the action.
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Two U.S. senators said on Thursday  they would introduce legislation that would potentially protect  users of popular social networking sites like News Corp's   MySpace from registered sex offenders.
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The bill requires the F.C.C. to assess whether broadband providers are interfering with consumersâ rights to access, send, receive or offer content, applications and services over networks.
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A senior U.S. lawmaker said on  Wednesday he had introduced legislation designed to prevent  broadband Internet providers from unreasonable interference  with subscribers' access to content.
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Cable-modem service provider Comcast said Wednesday that it would welcome a U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)&#160;investigation into its broadband traffic management practices.FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, speaking at the&#160;Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas&#160;on Tuesday, said the commission would investigate&#160;complaints that Comcast was blocking some peer-to-peer (P-to-P) traffic. An Associated Press investigation published in October found that Comcast was slowing traffic connected through the popular BitTorrent file-sharing program.A Comcast spokeswoman said Wednesday that the company had not yet received information requests from the FCC. Comcast, in a statement, also defended its practice of sometimes slowing P-to-P traffic during peak traffic times.&quot;We look forward to responding to any FCC inquiries regarding our broadband network management,&quot; David Cohen, Comcast&#39;s executive vice president, said in the statement. &quot;We believe our practices are in accordance with the FCC&#39;s policy statement on the Internet where the commission clearly recognized that reasonable network management is necessary for the good of all customers.&quot;Comcast will work with the FCC to better inform customers about broadband network management, the statement said. &quot;Comcast does not, has not, and will not block any Web sites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services,&quot; Cohen said.Martin also said the FCC would look into complaints that Verizon Wireless and other wireless carriers were blocking access to text-messaging on their networks. In September,&#160;Verizon Wireless denied Naral Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights group, access&#160;when the group asked to allow Verizon customers to sign up for its text-messaging alerts.&#160;Verizon reversed the decision a day later.A Verizon Wireless spokeswoman didn&#39;t immediately respond to a request for comments on Martin&#39;s CES speech.In December, eight consumer and public-interest groups -- including Public Knowledge, the Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union -- filed a complaint with the FCC, saying mobile phone providers should not be able to block text messages from political groups and advertisers.Public Knowledge and Free Press, both critical of provider traffic blocking, praised Martin&#39;s CES statements. Public Knowledge is pleased that the FCC is &quot;willing to stand by their principles to protect American consumers,&quot; the group said in a statement. &quot;We look forward to FCC proceedings that will determine what are legitimate uses of power by telecom companies, and which are not.&quot;
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InfoWorld - The U.S. Congress still needs to deal with network neutrality, and supporters in Congress are willing to block any legislation favored by broadband providers until the issue is resolved, a leading Democratic lawmaker said Wednesday.
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Congress weighs a bill to restrict cooperation between U.S. companies and digital dictatorships.
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WASHINGTON - A coalition of technology and advocacy groups on Friday asked the U.S. Senate to kill copyright legislation that might result in jail time for people who trade copyrighted files online.
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By Tom Breen  An e-mail to state lawmakers that began "Dear Registered Sex Offender" has prompted calls for a probe into whether child pornographers are using crime fighting resources as marketing tools.  Sen.
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Same group of Democrats and Republicans who said filesharing can pose "national security" risks now want probe into other possible consequences of "inadvertent" file exposure.
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Republican leaders in the House and Senate were blocked Wednesday by a senior GOP senator in their efforts to add immigration, handgun and Internet gambling measures to a defense bill.