Monday, November 8, 2010

Net Neutrality Advocates Silent

Tuesday’s election aftermath

The list hasn’t been finalized, but it’s almost as if Washington’s battles for the next two years have already been determined, reports The Daily Caller. From fetishistic scenarios in which California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa uses his new-found investigatory powers to topple the White House, to hemming and hawing about the fate of Obamacare, the drastic power shift in the House means Washington has a new, GOP-oriented agenda.

Not on said to-do list? Net neutrality. The regulatory principles that the progressive grassroots rallied around for the last 19 months are getting little air-play.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) may have succeeded in drumming up enough support to get suspended MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann back on the air — but it failed to help a single congressional candidate who signed its net neutrality petition: All 95 Democratic congressional candidates who signed the PCCC’s pledge to regulate the Internet lost their races.

Now, analysts say the issue of net neutrality is on ice.

A perusal of the left’s most colorful standard-bearers suggests as much. Media reform group Free Press has remained silent since Tuesday. Prior to the election, Free Press rallied around NPR in the Juan Williams debacle, and didn’t even attempt to make net neutrality a midterm issue. Which could mean that it’s now either gearing up for a fresh assault on FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, or revisiting its focus.

The only leftist group to come right out and admit that Tuesday’s results are bad news was Public Knowledge.

Read more here.

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