Research Director S. Derek Turner to Testify Before Congress Today

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: March 9, 2011
Contact: Jenn Ettinger, 202-265-1490 x 35

WASHINGTON -- Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner will testify on Thursday on behalf of the Free Press Action Fund and the SavetheInternet.com coalition before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. Turner’s testimony is part of a hearing on House Joint Resolution 37, a “resolution of disapproval” that seeks to overturn the Network Neutrality rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in December.

In his testimony, Turner plans to criticize the resolution, calling it a “solution in search of a problem.”

As advocates for Net Neutrality, Free Press and the Free Press Action Fund opposed the FCC’s rules because they failed to adequately preserve and protect the open Internet on both wired and wireless platforms. But in his testimony, Turner calls the congressional effort to overturn the rules a dangerous overreach.

“This resolution will leave consumers completely unprotected,” Turner will tell the subcommittee. “It will remove the limited certainty that the FCC’s rules provide. Most importantly, it will bar the FCC from addressing even flagrant censorship and anti-competitive activities in the future. The principle of non-discrimination, which is the bedrock of Net Neutrality policy, was not always the political football it is today. Unfortunately, the debate around nondiscrimination has become immune to the calming powers of historical fact and susceptible to the ills of powerful special-interest politics and false partisan frames.”

For a copy of Turner’s full remarks go to: http://www.freepress.net/resource/testimony-s-derek-turner-house-energy-and-commerce-subcommittee-communications-technology-a

For a copy of Turner's full written testimony go to: http://www.freepress.net/resource/written-testimony-s-derek-turner-house-subcommittee-communications-technology-and-internet

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