Key Telco Legislator, Net Neutrality Champion Jumps To Energy

Congressman Edward Markey, a key proponent of net neutrality and online privacy, will leave his position on the committee that deals with telecommunications regulation to chair the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment. House watchers had expected Markey to remain on the Commerce Committee, where he would direct the telecommunications agenda. Instead, that role will be taken by Congressman Rick Boucher, who takes on the chairmanship of the Communications, Technology and the Internet Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Boucher has been a supporter of municipal wireless efforts, has co-sponsored a bill to direct Universal Service Funds for broadband deployment (and require VoIP providers to pay into the USF), tried to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to provide more protection for fair use, and appears to favor government intervention to deliver rural broadband access. Image courtesy of Congressman Ed Markey.