They are joined by top-level figures fromgovernment, industry and international agencies, as well as those concerned with the content that will be delivered through broadband networks, from education to entertainment.
Telecoms firms and Internet-access providers are concerned that, under some countries' laws, they would be liable for content travelling over their networks and so would have to start monitoring and filtering it.
Opponents are particularly concerned about the House legislation, which would allow the Hollywood studios and other content owners to ask credit-card processors to block payments to U.S. websites accused of hosting pirated material.