Changes

In 2002, Stevens cosponsored a controversial bill called the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA). Put forth by former Democratic Senator [[Fritz Hollings]], if the bill had been passed, it would have forced all computer manufacturers to include inherent forms of copy protection.<ref>http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2002/03/51245</ref> This was held unfavorably by open-source activists and developers, who often referred to Hollings using such titles as "The Disney Senator" and "Senator Mickey" due to his ties to the entertainment industry.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,47296,00.html</ref> This bill was never passed into law, though similar private efforts are occurring.<ref>http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html</ref>

In 2002, Stevens cosponsored a controversial bill called the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA). Put forth by former Democratic Senator [[Fritz Hollings]], if the bill had been passed, it would have forced all computer manufacturers to include inherent forms of copy protection.<ref>http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2002/03/51245</ref> This was held unfavorably by open-source activists and developers, who often referred to Hollings using such titles as "The Disney Senator" and "Senator Mickey" due to his ties to the entertainment industry.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,47296,00.html</ref> This bill was never passed into law, though similar private efforts are occurring.<ref>http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html</ref>

In 2006, Stevens spoke before Congress in opposition to [[net neutrality]]. However, his speech was viewed as "rambling" and lacking basic knowledge of computers - for example, saying "an Internet" instead of "an e-mail message", claiming the Internet was not used for commercial purposes, and in a failed attempt to summarize technical definition of "pipe" - referred to the Internet as a "series of tubes". This became a major Internet meme.<ref>http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/03/0643238</ref>

In 2006, Stevens spoke before Congress in opposition to [[net neutrality]]. However, his speech was viewed as "rambling" and lacking basic knowledge of computers - for example, saying "an [[Internet]]" instead of "an e-mail message", claiming the Internet was not used for commercial purposes, and in a failed attempt to summarize technical definition of "pipe" - referred to the Internet as a "series of tubes". This became a major Internet meme.<ref>http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/03/0643238</ref> Despite Stevens' obvious lack of understanding of the Internet or the issue of net neutrality, he was correct that net neutrality is anti-[[free market]].<ref>http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2006/06/your_own_person/</ref>

== Legal Troubles ==

== Legal Troubles ==