Rep. Edwards Urges Peers to Sign Net Neutrality Petition

WASHINGTON, January 28, 2010 – Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards of Maryland sent a letter to her colleagues on Wednesday urging them to sign a petition supporting the principles of network neutrality.

“The rulemaking process is an unprecedented opportunity to protect and promote consumer choice, competition, and innovation on the Internet,” she wrote to her peers, adding that without the “open flow of information on the Internet much of the progress in the 20th and 21st centuries would never have taken place.”

In the letter, she noted that the FCC closed its initial public comment period concerning proposed rules regarding network neutrality but the agency is accepting reply comments through Mar. 5.

In a petition addressed to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Edwards says “we cannot allow the Internet to become a commercial pay-for-play media system. An Internet without net neutrality will hamper economic growth and will serve as a barrier to the free flow of information.”

She urges her peers to agree that the FCC “must act decisively, putting the public interest first and not giving in to lobbying pressure of the telecom and cable industries.”