Senate committee uses sleazy poll to kill network neutrality

A key Senate committee is using a phony poll to try and kill network neutrality. The poll, which purports to show that Americans are against network neutrality, was in fact funded by one of network neutrality's biggest foes -- Verizon. And the poll's findings are the exact opposite of what the committee says they are.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation issued a press release about the poll, as a way to back up its action to kill network neutrality. Any pretense that this poll is fair -- or that the fix wasn't in -- only needs to read the headline: "Bipartisan Poll Shows the Majority of Americans Favor Video Choice Over Onerous Net Neutrality Regulations."

It goes downhill from there. The survey, in fact, actually found that hardly anyone in the country has heard of network neutrality, much less has an opinion about it. The survey found, according to the release, "very few registered voters are familiar with the issue of network neutrality. In some regions of the country, only 5 percent of likely voters had even heard of “Net Neutrality.”

If hardly anyone has heard of network neutrality, how can a majority of Americans be against it? The committee isn't saying.

The survey asked a variety softball questions, such as whether respondents want a choice of video providers. Then through some sleight of hand, the committee claims the answers show Americans are against network neutrality.

The real kicker here is found at the bottom of the release, which reveals that Verizon paid for the survey. Considering that Verizon has been fighting network neutrality tooth and nail, does anyone really believe a survey they fund will be fair?

This is just one more example of the sleaze associated with the opponents of network neutrality. They'll stoop to anything to kill it.