Congressional democrats to bring in legislation on net neutrality principles

In a coordinated move, Congressional Democrats are seeking to bring in legislation in the Senate and House of Representatives to enshrine network neutrality principles into law until the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled on the matter.

According to the House bill's co-sponsor, representative Anna Eshoo (Democrat from California), the bill ensured that consumers, not their internet service providers were in the driver's seat when it came to their online experience, The Register reported.

She said free and open internet had been a pillar of the US' growing economy, unparalleled technological innovation, and even global social movements, the report said. She added it was the bone of the digital world, and she intended to keep it that way.

Open Internet Preservation Act, a simple two-page bill, stated that the FCC's earlier ruling on net neutrality remained operational.

The bill comes following last  month's court ruling that the FCC was not entitled to block telecommunications companies from giving differing priorities to internet traffic (See: US court hits net neutrality; allows Verizon, other ISPs to charge for traffic).

The bill did not dictate exactly what net neutrality rules needed to be  enforced, nor change the responsibilities of the FCC. It would only remain in force until the FCC had set out new neutrality standards, a move the agency's chairman had pledged to sort out.

According to senator Richard Blumenthal (Democrat from Connecticut), who helped put corresponding legislation before the senate, keeping the internet free from gatekeeper control was essential in ensuring consumers had access to the content, websites and services of their choice.

He added, until the DC Circuit Court's recent decision, broadband companies had been barred from blocking content they disliked or holding innovative new services hostage for higher and higher tolls. He added, the bill would reinstate principles of choice and freedom on the internet and protect consumers and entrepreneurs.

Net neutrality is aimed at ensuring that on the internet, people got to share / send / make nearly anything they want, and to have that data be considered equally important to all the other data that computers pushed around the internet, Business Insider reports.

Net neutrality was generally accepted to be a good idea, but it had recently been struck down by a Federal appeals court on a technicality.

Under the ruling internet service providers such as Verizon can start charging different tier prices for different types of users, or to limit speeds for certain users or sites. Internet companies had been complaining since a long time that some services - such as peer-to-peer file sharing operations sucked up huge amounts of their resources while paying disproportionately low fees.