From Old School to New School

Internet Freedom and Net Neutrality

Posted on May 23, 2006. Filed under: general |

After seeing the hot button topic of Net Neutrality pop up everywhere the intellectual wannabe in me decided to get off my butt and find out what all the hubbub was about. And now I’m a little freaked out. Why in this day and age of war and phone tapping and outed CIA agents am I still so naive to believe that some things, like the Internet, are sacred, is beyond me. Basically, telcos such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are lobbying Congress for control of what and how we access and view the Internet. Compaines like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are lobbying for laws that would make Net neutrality mandatory.

On a personal note, elimating net neutrality would impact my life significantly. Because of my rural location, I depend on net neutrality to run both my home and professional lives. Contrary to popular belief, it is small businesses, not big big businesses, that are the lifeblood of our struggling economy right now. Ending net neutrality would damage, if not destroy, the fragile fabric that businesses and families have built their foundations on. Ending net neutrality would essentially put me out of business.

If you’re interested in finding out how this might effect you and what you can do about it, please visit some of these links:

http://civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/
http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet
http://www.savetheinternet.com/=threat
http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=255815&&
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6075472.html

Below is the MoveOn.org suggest text for emailing friends about this issue.

Subject: Congress is selling out the Internet

Hi,

Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an iPod? Everything we do online will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law next week that gives giant corporations more control over what we do and see on the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality–the Internet’s First Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. BarnesandNoble.com doesn’t have to outbid Amazon for the right to work properly on your computer.

If Net Neutrality is gutted, many sites–including Google, eBay, and iTunes–must either pay protection money to companies like AT&T or risk having their websites process slowly. That why these high-tech pioneers, plus diverse groups ranging from MoveOn to Gun Owners of America, are opposing Congress’ effort to gut Internet freedom.

You can do your part today–can you sign this petition telling your member of Congress to preserve Internet freedom? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C7049029-0BJPFfACnNWzAJtRFyCEGw

I signed this petition, along with 250,000 others so far. This petiton will be delivered to Congress before the House of Representatives votes next week. When you sign, you’ll be kept informed of the next steps we can take to keep the heat on Congress.

Snopes.com, which monitors various causes that circulate on the Internet, explained:

Simply put, network neutrality means that no web site’s traffic has precedence over any other’s…Whether a user searches for recipes using Google, reads an article on snopes.com, or looks at a friend’s MySpace profile, all of that data is treated equally and delivered from the originating web site to the user’s web browser with the same priority. In recent months, however, some of the telephone and cable companies that control the telecommunications networks over which Internet data flows have floated the idea of creating the electronic equivalent of a paid carpool lane.

If companies like AT&T have their way, Web sites ranging from Google to eBay to iTunes either pay protection money to get into the “fast lane” or risk opening slowly on your computer. We can’t let the Internet–this incredible medium which has been such a revolutionary force for democratic participation, economic innovation, and free speech–become captive to large corporations.

Politicians don’t think we are paying attention to this issue. Together, we do care about preserving the free and open Internet.

Please sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Internet freedom. Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C7049029-0BJPFfACnNWzAJtRFyCEGw

Thanks.

[tags]moveon.org, net neutrality, congress, internet freedom, bill of rights, lobby, congress[/tags]

Make a Comment

One Response to “Internet Freedom and Net Neutrality”

Comments RSS Feed

Where's The Comment Form?