'Net neutrality' proponents weigh 'slow the Senate' tactic

Proponents of so-called 'network neutrality' legislation are weighing a tactic to illustrate their point to Congress and part of the Washington press corp -- they'll "slow down" websites visited by those groups. Network neutrality refers to the idea that major telecommunications carriers should be prohibited by law from varying the quality of their Internet services from users whose content they support or oppose. Supporters of legal protection against network discrimination argue that without the law, consumers will find access to some websites and services noticeably slower than to favored sites. To illustrate the point they are asking supporters to install a little bit of code on their website which will track whether a user is coming from house.gov, senate.gov or washingtonpost.com domain. If so, the code will delay serving the page by 15 seconds which a message about net neutrality is shown. For a good summary of the arguments for and against network neutrality, read Google technologist (and internet-protocol inventor) Vinton Cerf's testimony, and the testimony of an executive of Comcast Corp., David Cohen.  You can also view the website of the coalition supporting network neutrality, which includes some major internet companies, and the website of the telecommunications-lobby opponents of network neutrality.