Draft of senate telecom reform bill revealed

On Monday, Ted Stevens, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, released a draft telecom bill that touches on several hot topics of today. According to the article Net neutrality missing from sweeping telecom bill, Stevens said in a statement that the bill "attempts to strike a balance between competing industries, consumer groups and local government."

Some of the important points made in the new bill include:

• Video and Audio Flag
  • An Audio Broadcast Flag that will ban digital over-the-air radio and digital satellite devices that can record broadcasts.
  • Also, under the Video Broadcast Flag, some receivers that allow users to record broadcasts may be banned.
• New Taxes - Imposes taxes on broadband and VoIP services.
• Municipal Broadband - Cities and states would set up their own municipal broadband networks.
• Internet Neutrality - The FCC would have to publish a yearly report on any problems with net neutrality.

These and other changes will be enacted by this bill if it is passed into law as is. According to the article Senate Telecom Reform Bill Surfaces, the senate committee will hold two public hearings about the bill as well as an executive session after Memorial Day to mark up the bill.