Proponents of Network Neutrality have been relentless at highlighting individual Congress members’ failings to protect Internet freedom. Senators John McCain and Ted Stevens have felt the heat in past weeks. This week, the heat is on Virginia Senator George Allen, who MoveOn.org believes tried to pull a fast one on his website.
For the record, Allen voted against the Snowe-Dorgan amendment, which was expressly worded to prevent Internet service providers from setting up a two-tiered system that could be easily abused and made into a system of Internet toll roads. Opposition to that type of system is what, at the core, defines the Network Neutrality movement.
And from Allen’s Website, it appears he agrees with the deluge of constituent requests to protect Net Neutrality. In fact, Allen comes right out and says he voted “yes” to protect it:
Senator Allen supports (and voted yes on) the Internet Consumer Bill of Rights Act, which addresses the issue of Net Neutrality in a way that promotes Internet freedom by keeping government regulation at a minimum and protecting the rights of unfettered Internet access by consumers.
Granted, it doesn’t say anything about the Snowe-Dorgan amendment until further down the page, where Allen defends his opposing vote with a non-government interference stance – similar to Ted Stevens’ opinion on the matter, who’s only okay with government regulation when it comes to cable television content. It’s nice Stevens finally got the “internet” his staff sent him that took so long to get there.
MoveOn.org’s Adam Green, though, isn’t buying one bit of it. In a blog post at DailyKos, Green lambasted Allen for attempting to deceive the public about how he voted on the issue.
Allen has accepted $113,000 in campaign cash from phone and cable companies AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner. Last week, he voted to let them put tollbooths on the Internet and have more control over what you see and do online–a blow to Internet freedom.
Allen is now using his taxpayer-funded website to say he “voted yes” on a bill that “addresses the issue of Net Neutrality.”the bill Allen voted for “addresses” Net Neutrality by putting it on the road to elimination. He voted no on preserving Net Neutrality.
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