Although House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Edward Markey (D- Mass.) is keenly interested in broadband penetration and network neutrality, he won't commit to a timetable for introducing legislation, he told the Consumer Federation of America Thurs. Indications are the period between hearings and markup could be long, to allow "broad discussion." While calling network neutrality a social justice issue, Markey stressed the need for bipartisanship. He was more emphatic in his support, however, than Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) was at the Wed. State of the Net conference. nnMarkey strongly defended the principles of network neutrality, calling an open Internet architecture 搇ocked into?the Internet's 揇NA.?Opponents ask the wrong question when they ask if Google should have to pay for access, Markey added: Google could pay for access if it had to -- but could Larry Page and Sergey Brin have afforded to pay 揳 gatekeeper?in 1998 when Google was a startup, or could Mark Andreessen of Netscape have done so in 1994? 揥e must remember that the phone companies are not known for their innovation,?and that, when offered a chance to create the Internet, AT&T declined, Markey said.
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