Following up on last week's discussions of H.R. 107 and the position of the Bell Operating Companies (BOCs), Representatives Boucher and Barton will hold a press conference this afternoon to announce the support of various techies. A rep from BellSouth will be featured.

It is hard to believe that the BOCs truly understand what an important bill this is for the content companies, who are likely to respond by opposing BOC interests on deregulatory issues. Why would the BOCs be willing to bring in against them the movie, music, games, and software industries? Not to mention the cable TV interests, who will soon notice that H.R. 107 arguably legalizes devices for theft of service? H.R. 107 is peripheral to BOC interests; deregulation is crucial.

Ah, the mysteries of Washington. The press conference should be interesting.