Ted and Big Telecom

In 2006, while serving as the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Senator Ted Stevens pushed for a rewrite of the nation’s communications act that did not include nondiscrimination provision, known as ‘net neutrality.’ [Bloggers Heap Derision On Stevens After Speech About Internet, Anchorage Daily News, 7/15/2006]

During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in June of that year, the Republican controlled committee voted against an amendment to the omnibus telecommunications bill, S. 2686, sponsored by Stevens that would have required all Internet traffic to be treated the same no matter what its “source” or “destination” might be. [Bloggers Heap Derision On Stevens After Speech About Internet, Anchorage Daily News, 7/15/2006]

Stevens gave an 11-minute speech in opposition to the amendment, parts of which have become infamously familiar; “The Internet is not something you just dump something on. It’s not a truck. It’s a series of tubes. … I, just the other day, got — an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially.” [Bloggers Heap Derision On Stevens After Speech About Internet, Anchorage Daily News, 7/15/2006]

Stevens’ interpretation of how the Internet worked became a topic for many writers and commentators who derisively cited his misunderstanding of Internet technology and argued the speech showed he formed a strong opinion on a topic he understood poorly. [Bloggers Heap Derision On Stevens After Speech About Internet, Anchorage Daily News, 7/15/2006]

Siding with the communication industry opponents of net neutrality, who feel that net neutrality is trying to address a problem that doesn’t exist and would hamper innovation, Stevens voted against mandating the nondiscriminatory provisions into law. Proponents of net neutrality provisions, such as the internet content providers, argue that premium pricing for faster loading times is unfair and fear that telephone and cable companies will become gatekeepers, funneling traffic based on their financial affiliation with the companies. Learn more about net neutrality here. [Bloggers Heap Derision On Stevens After Speech About Internet, Anchorage Daily News, 7/15/2006]

Telecommunication interests are among Ted’s largest donors. The communications and electronics sector has been the second largest contributing sector to Ted’s campaigns in his career. With $15,062 individual contributions and $704,145 PAC contributions, Ted has received $1,119,207 from this sector alone since 1998. [Ted Stevens: Top Industries, Center for Responsive Politics, Retrieved 9/10/2008]