Hutchison Keeps Taking Aim At Net Openness Codification Efforts
Senator Says Plan Would Limit Carriers' Ability to Manage Networks
John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 9/25/2009 3:26:00 PM
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) may have stood down, at least for them moment, from legislation to block FCC chairman Julius Genachowski's proposed expansion a codification of the commission's Internet openness principles, but she is still taking air at the effort.In an op-ed in The Hill newspaper Friday, she said that the plan would "limit broadband carriers' ability to manage their networks in the manner that is best for their business," adding, "it will discourage investment and innovation in network infrastructure by creating uncertainty."
Genachowski said in announcing the proposal Monday that it would allow room for reasonable network management.
Hutchison said she would ask the Obama administration to "rethink" the effort, but the president gave the plan a big shout-out during a speech in New York just hours after it was announced, saying he was pleased the chairman was proposing "a set of principles to preserve an open Internet in which all Americans can participate and benefit."
Obama supported network-neutrality legislation as a senator and made network openness a plank in his platform and a part of his tech policy as president.
