Tom Clements on Net Neutrality

Tom Clements
Green Party Candidate for U.S. Senate
Columbia, South Carolina

July 28, 2010

PRESS STATEMENT – DEMINT ON THE SIDE OF CABLE LOBBYISTS AND CORPORATE MEDIA AND AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH CAROLINA ON ACCESS TO THE INTERNET

The Clements for Senate campaign continues to expand and will be issuing frequent statements on pertinent issues in the campaign, including on how Senator Jim DeMint is not representing the interests of South Carolinians. The campaign is striving to make sure that the race is focused on the issues facing the state and not on sensationalism or sideshows.

Senator Jim DeMint and six other Republican senators just introduced legislation that would dramatically limit the Federal Communications Commission’s ability to regulate broadband providers. Tom Clements, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate in South Carolina, believes DeMint is attacking the freedom of average Internet users who take their “virtual independence” seriously and who deserve unregulated access to the Internet.

“His position concerning ‘net neutraility’ clearly reveals that DeMint come downs on the side of big business over individual freedoms,” said Clements. “He hypocritically claims to stand with the people while at the same time leading the charge against net neutrality. Jim DeMint is a reliable mouthpiece for big business and the cable lobbyists and is not on the side of working people in South Carolina. He claims that the government is trying to take over the Internet when actually AT&T and Comcast are trying to take over control of the Internet and he’s helping them.”

DeMint’s Freedom for Consumer Choice Act, or FCC Act, would curb and narrow the FCC’s power over broadband providers and come to resemble the antitrust enforcement power of the Department of Justice. One section lets the FCC define “unfair methods of competition” and levy “requirements” on the industry, but only if marketplace competition is “inadequate.”

If passed, DeMint’s “Big Media Bill” would impose a whole new framework on the FCC so that they can’t impose any new rules unless they find that a market failure led to ongoing consumer harm, and not just in the net neutrality context, but in any rule making.

Clements affirmed: “As it is in the best interest of South Carolinians, I support net neutrality and believe that regulations must exist to protect the average Internet users. Protection means preventing broadband providers from restricting content or prioritizing one type of traffic over another. I also believe that DeMint’s bill duplicates the jurisdiction and purpose of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, which share antitrust authority.’”

For more information contact the Clements for US Senate Campaign at 803.834.3084, cell 803.240.7268

Notes: Clements for Senate website – http://clementsforsenate.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Clements-for-US-Senate/128952760459672