"Nancy Pelosi is a staunch supporter of net neutrality, as is Michigan Democrat John Dingell, who called the telecom's plan "private taxation of the Internet." Dingell will chair the telecom committee in the house, and told reporters on Wednesday that "we're going to have to address the question of network neutrality.""
"Rep. Howard Berman, a Hollywood Democrat who may end up as chair of the subcommittee on intellectual property, once sponsored legislation that would have let the studios and record labels legally hack into peer-to-peer networks like LimeWire and disrupt them. The proposal, which failed, gave computer security experts nightmares.
Here's where this debate gets interesting: Berman isn't the only contender for that subcommittee post. Rick Boucher, a pro-Silicon Valley Democrat, may get the appointment. In contrast to Berman, Boucher has indicated he'll try to soften the DMCA. Boucher believes privacy trumps copyright.
Indeed, Democrats are fast becoming the party of privacy.
Fourteen bills related to technological privacy - including one that would have imposed tougher sentences for spyware makers and another that would have required companies to disclose when consumer data was stolen or misused - failed in the last two years.
Now pro-privacy stalwarts like Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein (California) and Patrick Leahy (Vermont), and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are likely to push their cause with a vengeance.
The takeaway this week for top-tier tech companies, online privacy advocates, and believers in equal Internet access for all? The future looks very bright."