The Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006 () was a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was part of a major overhaul of the

Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of ...

being considered by the US Congress. The Act was sponsored by Commerce Committee Chairman

Joe Barton Joseph Linus Barton (born September 15, 1949) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he represented in the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 t ...

(R-TX), Rep.

Fred Upton Frederick Stephen Upton (born April 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1987 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he represented Kalamazoo, Michigan, ...

(R-MI), Rep. Charles Pickering (R-MS) and Rep.

Bobby Rush Bobby Lee Rush (born November 23, 1946) is an American politician, activist, and pastor who served as the U.S. representative for for three decades, ending in 2023. A civil rights activist during the 1960s, Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter ...

(D-IL).

Overview

The last version of the Act (HR 5252) included

network neutrality Net neutrality, sometimes referred to as network neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent transfer rates regard ...

provisions defined by the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

. An amendment offered by Rep.

Ed Markey Edward John Markey (born July 11, 1946) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, a seat he has held since 2013. A member of ...

(D-MA) would have supplemented these with a prohibition against service tiering, which would have prevented

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...

s charging consumers more money in exchange for not reducing their Internet speed. The COPE Act was passed by the full House on June 8, 2006; the Markey Amendment failed, leaving the final bill without meaningful network neutrality provisions. The

US Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

was also involved in the issue. Senator

Ron Wyden Ronald Lee Wyden ( ; born May 3, 1949) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Oregon, a seat he has held since 1996 United States Senate special el ...

(D-OR) introduced the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006, and Senators

Olympia Snowe Olympia Jean Snowe (; born February 21, 1947) is an American businesswoman and politician who was a United States Senate, United States Senator, representing Maine for three terms from 1995 to 2013. A lifelong member of the Republican Party (Unit ...

(R-ME) and

Byron Dorgan Byron Leslie Dorgan (born May 14, 1942) is an American author, businessman and former politician who served as a United States House of Representatives, United States Representative (1981–1992) and United States Senate, United States Senator (1 ...

(D-ND) were expected to introduce a bipartisan amendment supporting

net neutrality Net neutrality, sometimes referred to as network neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering User (computing), users and online content providers consistent tra ...

when the Senate took up its own rewrite (the "Communications, Consumer's Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006", aka S. 268

) of the

later that year. The bill would have created a single set of national video

franchising Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busines ...

rules that permit competitors to enter the market without obtaining thousands of individual city-by-city agreements. The legislation would have protected fees paid to local authorities, preserved

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

educational Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

and government programming, and provided federal

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

and

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those who buy or use its products or services, either in person or remotely. Customer service is often practiced in a way that reflects the strategies and values of a firm, and ...

standards. The bill was lobbied for by

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

and received support from

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

whilst organizations such as

Save the Internet Save the Internet is a coalition of individuals, businesses, and non-profit organizations working for the preservation of Net neutrality. The site encourages taking action against discrimination of bandwidth distribution on the Internet. History ...

and

Common Cause Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President Lyndon ...

have opposed it.

Notes

References

* Document, description of the Communications Act of 2006 *Library of Congress
H.R.5252-RS - 29 September 2006 - 109-355
Communications Act of 2006 (text of the proposed legislation) *Library of Congress
H.R.5252 - All Congressional Actions w/Amendments
All speeches, amendments on the House Floor, 1 May 2006 through 29 September 2006 (ongoing)

External links

by John Nichols, ''The Nation'', June 9, 2006

by Tom Lasseter, BBC, June 9, 2006.
Full text of COPE 2006
(pdf)
U.S. House Record of the Roll Call Vote on the Markey Amendment

WashingtonWatch.com page on H.R. 5252: The Communications Act of 2006

Communications, Opportunity and Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006
(PDF) {{DEFAULTSORT:Communications Opportunity, Promotion And Enhancement Bill Of 2006 Proposed legislation of the 109th United States Congress Telecommunications in the United States Net neutrality

Overview

See also

Notes

References

External links