FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 18, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. – It seems some in Congress are more interested in “preserving” the 20th Century rather than embracing the 21st Century and the opportunities technology presents to Americans. Rep. Edward J. Markey’s “Internet Freedom Preservation Act” (HR 5353), introduced earlier this month, would hinder development of the Internet by introducing limiting regulations, said the Frontiers of Freedom Institute.
“This is an Internet regulation bill, despite claims to the contrary,” said George Landrith, president of the Frontiers of Freedom Institute. “It is too bad that truth in labeling laws don’t apply to proposed legislation – for if it applied, this law would have to be renamed to more accurately reflect its effect, ‘The Hampering Internet Innovation through Big Government Regulation and Taxation Act.’ By attempting to enshrine limits on the Internet into this nation’s laws, HR 5353 would stymie innovation and lock the future of the Internet into one set course. This is the antithesis of the free-range nature of the Internet development up to now.”
The legislation proposed by Rep. Markey and Rep. Chip Pickering is another in a series of failed attempts by some lawmakers to narrowly define the ways in which the Internet and the massive infrastructure needed for its growth can be developed and funded. Should these limits, supported in the background by major commercial interests such as Google and Amazon.com, be enacted, consumers will bear the full cost of building larger and larger networks.
“As millions of Americans go to the Internet daily to view YouTube videos, catch online streaming video of their favorite TV shows and download movies, the Internet will experience a massive traffic jam without substantial investment in its infrastructure,” Landrith said. “We must keep an open mind when it comes to options for the continual expansion of the Internet.”
“The Internet never would have developed as it has if we had used U.S. law to define only one solution to its growth,” Landrith said. “Innovation is the answer, not regulation. House members should resist attempts to legislate and regulate the Internet, leaving it to grow freely under the principles of the free market.”
Frontiers of Freedom Institute is a public policy foundation dedicated to promoting free market principles and the ideals embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution (www.ff.org).
For further information, contact: Belinda Rankin
703-246-0110, ext. 102
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