Lawmakers agree to new ban on Internet taxes
551879
WASHINGTON, Nov 19  - The House of Representatives on Friday approved a ban on taxing Internet access and online sales, which US President George W. Bush is expected to sign, a sponsor of the bill said.
232457
U.S. Senate and House of  Representatives negotiators agreed on Wednesday on a huge  corporate tax bill that will repeal export subsidies that  violate global trade rules and give manufacturers a new tax  break.
183494
Two lawmakers have introduced legislation that would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or impairing Web content from competitors.Reps. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Chip Pickering, a Mississippi Republican, introduced the Internet Freedom Preservation Act Wednesday. The bill says it is U.S. policy to &quot;guard against unreasonable discriminatory favoritism for, or degredation of, content by network operators based upon its source, ownership, or destination on the Internet.&quot;The bill would also require the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to open a proceeding on broadband services and consumer rights. The FCC would be required to investigate whether broadband providers have adhered to its August 2005 policy that providers should refrain from blocking or interfering with Web content.&quot;The open architecture nature of the Internet ... has ensured the Internet&#39;s place as the greatest level playing field ever created,&quot; Markey said as he introduced the bill. &quot;The goal of this bipartisan legislation is to assure consumers, content providers, and high-tech innovators that the historic, open architecture nature of the Internet will be preserved and fostered. [The bill] is designed to assess and promote Internet freedom for consumers and content providers.&quot;A group of advocacy groups, as well as Google and Amazon.com, praised the bill, saying it is needed as recent news report have suggested Comcast is slowing its customer access to high-bandwidth applications such as BitTorrent. Comcast on Tuesday filed a document with the FCC defending&#160;its practice of engaging in &quot;network management.&quot;Petitions by advocacy group Free Press and online video distributor Vuze to have the FCC prohibit Comcast&#39;s traffic throttling &quot;raise important issues about the ability of broadband network operators to engage in reasonable network management to ensure that their customers can enjoy a positive broadband experience,&quot; Comcast said in its FCC filing. &quot;Network management is best left to the sound, good-faith judgment of the engineers and proprietors who run and own the networks and who are best able to remedy customer service issues promptly, rather than to regulation.&quot;The FCC has no prohibitions against Comcast&#39;s behavior, the company argued. &quot;Free Press mistakenly relies on the [2005 FCC] Internet Policy Statement as creating rules the commission can enforce,&quot; Comcast said.But representatives of the Open Internet Coalition, including Free Press and Public Knowledge, praised the new Markey legislation, saying it would remove doubt about U.S. policy on blocking or slowing Web content.In the last six months, Comcast and other broadband and mobile-phone providers have repeatedly tried to block content on their networks, said Markham Erickson, the Open Internet Coalition&#39;s executive director. Erickson called Comcast&#39;s Tuesday FCC filing &quot;remarkable.&quot;&quot;It appears to declare war on Internet users, policy makers, and even the FCC,&quot; he said. &quot;It essentially says that the FCC has no legal ability to protect consumers from discriminatory behavior.&quot;The Comcast filing called Free Press&#39; complaints about its network management &quot;inflammatory hyperbole.&quot; Asked about Erickson&#39;s comments on the filing, Comcast spokeswoman Sean Fitzmaurice denied that the company was saying the FCC had no authority to regulate net neutrality.The Markey bill is not as specific as past net neutrality bills that failed in a Republican-controlled Congress in 2006, but it would set a standard in federal law, said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. &quot;It&#39;s the right bill at the right time,&quot; she said.Without prohibitions against blocking or slowing Web content, broadband providers could sign deals with some content providers and shut out new Internet-based companies, added Richard Whitt, Google&#39;s Washington telecom and media counsel.&quot;Keeping the on-ramps to the Web free of undue discrimination is not about Google, it&#39;s about the next Google,&quot; Whitt said.Comcast declined to comment on the Markey bill. But Hands Off the Internet, an advocacy group with members including broadband providers AT&amp;T and Qwest, said it could support an FCC study of net neutrality.&quot;There&#39;s no question that a reasoned examination of the facts will demonstrate the folly of net neutrality,&quot; the group said in a statement, &quot;However, we are concerned that an effort to seek public input is intended to be a stalking horse for federal Internet regulation. The continued push by special interests to regulate Internet neutrality undercuts the best hope Net users have for faster, more affordable broadband.&quot;
523201
The U.S. Congress shouldn't permanently extend a moratorium on taxes unique to the Internet because the temporary ban keeps Internet providers from abusing the system, a representative of the National Governors Association said Thursday.
412116
InfoWorld - The U.S. Congress shouldn&#39;t permanently extend a moratorium on taxes unique to the Internet because the temporary ban keeps Internet providers from abusing the system, a representative of the National Governors Association said Thursday.
299759
The President has proposed that internet use be subject to a new tax, in order to help fund state-owned television stations
181215
Congress acted Friday to block state and local governments from taxing connections that link consumers to the Internet for the next three years.
493896
A resolution that urges the United States Congress to take action to help stop children and employees from accessing Internet pornography passed the House with unanimous approval Tuesday.  Sponsoring Rep.
352548
The Senate has approved legislation  extending a moratorium on state Internet access taxes for seven  years.
574827
A senior lawmaker said on Wednesday  he had introduced legislation designed to prevent broadband  Internet providers from unreasonable interference with  subscribers' access to content.
415183
Lawmakers revived a long-stalled effort Wednesday to block state and local governments from taxing Internet connections, in a last-minute agreement to ban the taxes until 2007.
406509
Congressional lawmakers are taking a cue from Hollywood with an aim to beef up penalties against people who illegally swap copyrighted movies and songs over the Internet.  -washingtonpost.com
534773
The U.S. Senate approved a bill extending the moratorium on Internet access taxes for seven years. But the measure needs to be reconciled with a four-year ban proposed by the House.
611824
U.S. Senate and House of Representatives negotiators agreed on Wednesday on a huge corporate tax bill that will repeal export subsidies that violate global trade rules and give manufacturers a new tax break.
537779
SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that could allow criminal charges to be brought against individuals who participate in file-swapping Web sites or networks.
722641
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.
38373
The House of Representatives on Wednesday gave overwhelming final approval to a bill that would ensure millions of middle income taxpayers do not become ensnared by a tax originally designed for millionaires.