"A Senate bill called the 'Consumer Choice in Online Video Act' (PDF) takes aim at many of the tactics Internet service providers can use to overcharge customers and degrade the quality of rival online video services.
Submitted yesterday by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the 63-page
bill provides a comprehensive look at the potential ways in which ISPs
can limit consumer choice, and it boots the Federal Communications
Commission's power to prevent bad outcomes. 'It shall be unlawful for a
designated Internet service provider to engage in unfair methods of
competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices, the purpose or
effect of which are to hinder significantly or to prevent an online
video distributor from providing video programming to a consumer,' the
bill states. A little more specifically, it would be illegal to 'block,
degrade, or otherwise impair any content provided by an online video
distributor' or 'provide benefits in the transmission of the video
content of any company affiliated with the Internet service provider
through specialized services or other means.' Those provisions overlap a
bit with the FCC's authority under its own net neutrality law, the Open
Internet Order, which already prevents the blockage of websites and
services. However, Verizon is in court attempting to kill that law, and
there is a real possibility that it could be limited in some way. The
Consumer Choice in Online Video Act could provide a hedge against that
possible outcome."
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