Earlier this week, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced legislation that would prevent paid prioritization of Internet traffic delivery, which has been a growing concern of Open Internet advocates.  The bill would direct the FCC to prohibit special treatment or prioritization of certain Internet traffic.

The legislation comes days after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced the Commission will launch an investigation to examine so-called peering arrangements.  Disputes between Netflix and Internet Access providers Comcast and Verizon over paid prioritization and streaming-quality have brought the issue to the forefront.  Open Internet advocates are concerned about the future of the Internet if mandatory payments like this become accepted practice.

Tech groups, like the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) have expressed support for the legislation.  “Congresswoman Matsui and Senator Leahy have prudently focused their legislation on the problems arising from the power which Internet access providers have to arbitrarily charge edge providers for priority local or “last mile” delivery capacity,” said CCIA President Ed Black. “ If Internet Providers can extract unjustified tolls for interconnection where congestion and degraded service results at least partly from their own network’s lack of capacity, meaningful open Internet access will be threatened.”

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