"Before Tuesday's midterm elections, there were 95 House and Senate candidates who pledged support for Net neutrality, a bill that would force Internet providers to not charge users more for certain kinds of Web content," David Goldman reports for CNNMoney. "All of them lost -- and that could mean the contentious proposal may now be all but dead."
"The Federal Communications Commission tried to implement Net neutrality rules but got smacked down in April by a court ruling saying it did not have the authority to do so," Goldman reports. "As a result, it is preparing a proposal asking Congress to give it new authority to regulate broadband Internet service." Goldman reports, "Republican lawmakers largely oppose the idea of Net neutrality. Though a majority of Democratic lawmakers support the issue -- all of the 95 candidates that said they would support Net neutrality on the left-leaning Progressive Change Campaign Committee's website were Democrats -- they have been divided on whether to pass the FCC's proposed legislation. The debate over Net neutrality has been fiercely fought on both sides, and experts say the FCC's proposed legislation had little chance of passing even in the current Congress. "The widespread Democratic losses made an already uphill battle even tougher. More than a dozen incumbent congressmen who had voted for a similar Net neutrality bill in 2006 were voted out ofoffice on Tuesday, most notably Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., a 28-year House veteran," Goldman reports. "Now, experts say the FCC needs to regroup and weigh its options." Read more in the full article here.
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