House votes to block net neutrality bill

By Molly McHugh February 18, 2011

The proposed net neutrality policy was shot down by the House of Representatives on Thursday. The legislation would have kept Internet service providers from blocking legal online content and given the FCC funds to ensure that these broadband owners could not ban competing services.

According to House majority leader Eric Canter, the decision will “debunk the FCC’s harmful and partisan plan to regulate the Internet.” Republican representatives expressed fear that the new rulings would kill jobs and hinder industry innovation. In short, a divide has been struck between those who want the Internet develop without government regulation and those who see a need to keep large corporations from controlling the Web. At the moment, the former is winning.

Last month, Verizon filed an appeal against the FCC for the proposed net neutrality plan. Despite being involved in the rulings origins themselves, the carrier cried foul and planned to sue. According to Verizon, the net neutrality agreement gave “sweeping” powers to the FCC, allowing it complete authority over ISPs and their network’s traffic.

And while the House republicans have seen eye to eye with Verizon on this, there are those in the minority who disagree. According to Reuters, democratic representative Edward Markey argues that, “Verizon’s not going to invent anything new. What they want to do is squeeze competitors.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…

Computing

Snag a year’s access to Norton’s ‘Secure VPN’ while it’s 75% off

A close-up of a computer monitor displaying a generic VPN.

For one of the best VPN deals today, check out Stack Social which currently has Norton Secure VPN available for just $20 for a one-year subscription instead of the usual price of $80. Protecting up to five devices including all your iOS and Android devices, as well as your laptop or desktop, it’s fantastic value for such strong peace of mind. If you’re in the market for a new VPN, keep reading while we explain why it’s worth buying Norton Secure VPN.

Why you should buy Norton Secure VPN
You won’t see Norton Secure VPN in our look at the best VPNs, but don’t fret as it’s still a major name in the security world featuring prominently in looks at the best antivirus software. With Norton Secure VPN, you get real-time threat protection for up to five of your devices along with online privacy.

Computing

Save $400 on this Razer gaming laptop with an RTX 4060

A game playing on the Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop.

For a gaming laptop that will be able to handle the most demanding games, you're going to want a machine that's as powerful as the Razer Blade 14 with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card. It's understandably expensive, but you can currently get it with a $400 discount from Razer that drops its price to an even $2,000 from $2,400 originally. We're not sure how much time is remaining before this offer ends though, so if you want the savings, you're going to have to complete your purchase as soon as you can.

Why you should buy the Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop
The Razer Blade 14 is capable of challenging the best gaming laptops with the help of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card, which offers excellent efficiency and strong ray tracing performance. Combined with the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS processor and 16GB of RAM that's good for gaming, according to our guide on how much RAM do you need, not only will you be able to play the best PC games without any issues, but you'll also be prepared for the upcoming PC games of the next few years.

Computing

Get this Asus laptop with a year of Microsoft Office for $199

asus vivobook go laptop deal amazon march 2024 lifestyle

You don't need to spend several hundreds of dollars on a new laptop that you'll use as a productivity tool because there are budget-friendly options like the Asus Vivobook Go L510MA. It's actually currently even cheaper from Walmart after an $80 discount, which brings its price down to just $199 from $279 originally. There's no telling how much time is remaining before the offer expires though, so if you want to take advantage of it, you're going to have to proceed with the purchase as soon as possible.

Why you should buy the Asus Vivobook Go L510MA
For a laptop that will be able to handle basic activities like doing online research, building reports, and browsing social media, you can't go wrong with the Asus Vivobook Go L510MA. It's equipped with the Intel Pentium Silver N5030 processor and 4GB of RAM, which are a far cry from the specifications of the best laptops, but it will be enough for simple tasks. The device also comes with a 15.6-inch screen with Full HD resolution, which is pretty large and sharp for its price, but it's still portable as it only weights about 3.5 pounds with a thickness of just 0.72 of an inch.