Net bill opposed

About 30 people who think the Internet needs to be “saved” gathered with signs outside U.S. Sen. Patty Murray’s office in downtown Spokane on Thursday, asking her to vote against a pending telecommunications bill.

The proposal should be defeated unless it guarantees “net neutrality,” a concept which says Internet service providers shouldn’t be able to charge Web sites to allow them to open more quickly on a user’s computer, said the group, SavetheInternet.com. After several speeches, they presented Murray’s Spokane staff with petitions that the group said were signed by 27,577 people over the Internet.

A spokesman for Murray said she’s still studying the bill.