MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Tensions are boiling in the Vermont statehouse between lawmakers and the state’s technology and innovation commissioner.
Vermont Public Radio reports (https://bit.ly/1EOsNeX ) lawmakers noticed something strange when their browsers wouldn’t load websites such as internet radio stations.
Richard Boes, commissioner of the Department of Information and Innovation, says entertainment sites were consuming more than 7 percent of the state’s data transfer capacity - so he blocked them. He says Vermont already spends about $1.6 million annually on bandwidth and that the sites were slowing down citizen applications.
He says targeted website blocking is coming, but not for a few months.
But Senate President John Campbell says Boes is infringing on the legislative branch’s independence.
He says if the system isn’t reverted back, lawmakers may flex their budgetary power over Boes’ department.
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