WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy on Thursday pressed large Internet providers to pledge that they will not strike deals that may help some websites load faster than others or give similar “fast lanes” to affiliated services.
As regulators work on new so-called “net neutrality” rules, Leahy wrote to chiefs of AT&T, Verizon Communications, Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications.
In his letters, similar to one sent to Comcast Corp on Monday, Leahy asked the leading Internet service providers to commit formally to no so-called “paid prioritization” deals in which content companies could pay providers to ensure fast delivery of traffic.
The Federal Communications Commission has received 3.9 million comments after it proposed web traffic rules that would prohibit ISPs from blocking content, but suggested allowing some “commercially reasonable” paid prioritization deals.
Verizon, Comcast and AT&T, have said they had no plans for such arrangements.
