Top Pol: Net Neutrality Is "Like Pornography"

How low will opponents of net neutrality go? Into the gutter, it seems. Rep. Joe Barton, Congress's chief enemy of net neutrality and best friend of AT&T, claims net neutrality is "kind of like pornography: You know it when you...

April 28, 2006

1 Min Read
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How low will opponents of net neutrality go? Into the gutter, it seems. Rep. Joe Barton, Congress's chief enemy of net neutrality and best friend of AT&T, claims net neutrality is "kind of like pornography: You know it when you see it." What does that statement actually mean? Who knows? Then again, Barton has never been charged with making any kind of coherent sense. Like our president, he's a Republican from Texas. Must be something in the water.

As chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Barton is the country's most powerful politican when it comes to telecom and Internet law. Barton is AT&T and the telco's best friend. They shower him with campaign contributions, and he does what they tell him.

Even for Barton, equating net neutrality with pornography is a new low. But that's the way they play politics in Texas, I guess. So far, it's paid off for him. Whether it will in the long term remains to be seen.

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