Rep. Ed Markey, D- MA, has introduced a new network neutrality bill that would embed open-access principles into the law, require the FCC to establish “baseline” open-access rules, and call for the agency to launch within 90 days of enactment a proceeding into broadband services and their impact on consumers.
The legislation would also require the FCC to hold a series of broadband summits with plenty of prior notice.
The bill would require the government “to safeguard the open marketplace of ideas on the Internet by adopting and enforcing baseline protections to guard against unreasonable discriminatory favoritism for, or degradation of, content by network operators based upon its source, ownership, or destination on the Internet.”
The FCC would also have to hold at least eight summits in geographically diverse locations, with at least 30 days’ public notice, then summarize the results in a report to Congress.
Markey introduced a network neutrality bill in the last, Republican-controlled Congress, but it did gain passage.
