Stevens Stammers While the Internet Burns

The good senator from Alaska seems to have lost the memo on Net Neutrality.

His rant on Wednesday from the chairman's seat of the Senate Commerce Committee raises some serious concerns about the telecommunications legislation that bears his signature:

Listen to Steven's June 28 Speech (mp3 file)

Here's one peculiar snippet:

"My biggest fear about this debate is that we don’t know about the consequences to turn the Internet into a two-tiered system, which is exactly what those who are pleading for Net Neutrality would do."

Stevens' aides must have shuffled up his 3x5 cards before passing them to the podium. Now, he's accusing Net Neutrality proponents of wanting a discriminatory, two-tiered Internet -- the very thing that we oppose.

Memo to Stevens: Discrimination is the mantra of your allies at AT&T, Verizon and Comcast -- not our side. If you "don't know about the consequences" of tiering, then why are you fast-tracking a Senate bill that would allow it?

Are we ready to entrust the future of the Internet to a law written by someone who doesn't know what the Internet is?

For more, read John Dvorak's article in PC Mag.