US lawmaker may jump into network neutrality fray

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - Congress may have to stop broadband Internet providers from charging content providers higher fees for priority access to the Internet, a senior House of Representatives Democrat said on Tuesday.

"I am concerned that if Congress stands by and does nothing, we will soon find ourselves living in a world where those who pay, can play (on the Internet), but those who don't are simply out of luck," Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said.

Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, may offer legislation that would make it a violation of U.S. antitrust law for network providers to discriminate against some content, an aide to the lawmaker said after a committee hearing on the issue.

That legislation would be similar to a bill introduced by Conyers during the last session of Congress, which was approved by the Judiciary committee but was never brought up for a vote of the full House.

Conyers echoed the concerns expressed by a civil liberties lawyer and other open-network advocates at the hearing. They argued that discrimination by broadband network providers could lead to censorship of political speech and shut out the voices of independent artists.

"To be sure, if we go in (that) direction, it will stifle future innovation on the Internet," Conyers said.

At issue is the so-called "network neutrality" controversy that pits open-Internet advocates against some service providers, who say they need to take reasonable steps to manage ever-growing traffic on their networks.

Some of network neutrality complaints have centered on charges that broadband companies were engaged in anti-competitive conduct, while others involved charges of political censorship.