The Carl DeMaio campaign on Thursday accused Rep. Scott Peters of siding with the cable industry in efforts to undermine net neutrality.
Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers should treat all data on the Internet equally. Cable industry leaders argue that providers of data-intensive services such as movie delivery should be given preferential treatment if they pay more.
Dave McCulloch, a spokesman for DeMaio, said Peters in May signed onto a letter that would undermine efforts to protect net neutrality. The bi-partisan letter to the chairman of of the Federal Communications Commission said no further regulation of the Internet is necessary, even to preserve net neutrality.
“Scott Peters wants to have it both ways when it comes to net neutrality — he wants serve the special interests that filled his campaign coffers with money, but he wants to mislead voters into thinking that he supports net neutrality,” McCulloch said.
Alex Roth, communications director for the Peters campaign, rejected the DeMaio campaign’s criticism.
“Rep. Peters is committed to ensuring the Internet remains free, fair and open. He is a strong supporter of net neutrality and supports a strong FCC enforcing it. As usual, Carl DeMaio is distorting the truth,” Roth said.
The DeMaio campaign also took issue with Peter’s vote in May on new rules for the National Security Agency, saying they would undermine privacy.
“I will be a clear voice and consistent vote to ensure our personal right to privacy and a policy of net neutrality so innovation and individual choice can be maintained in our modern world,” DeMaio said.
The USA Freedom Act, which ended the NSA’s collection of metadata for telephone calls, passed the House 303-121 with all of the San Diego delegation except Rep. Darrell Issa voting in favor.
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