04.30.06
Get Involved, Before It’s Too Late
Saving the Internet
Yes, it’s that time again: it’s time to save the Internet from nefarious schemers (most of them Republicans) and their rotten plots (most of them serving giant businesses) to take over the last, great, free (as in freedom, not beer) medium. But before you complete the eye-roll you just started, you might want to consider exactly what’s up this time around, because this time the threat looks pretty serious. We’re not talking about email postage stamps, all right?
According to the folks over at MoveOn.org,
Congress is now pushing a law that would end the free and open Internet as we know it. Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet’s First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. So Amazon doesn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.
In an email I received from MoveOn, they informed me that my representative, Hilda Solis, stood up for Network Neutrality “every step of the way”, and they encouraged me to blog about it. So I am. Kudos to her and all the others who stood up and voted for me and you and our rights. Apologies to those of you whose scoundrelly reps attempted unceremoniously to bend you over and spank you….
Anyway, I recognize an important issue when I see one, and this one has the potential to impact all users of the ‘Net. Like much of US policy, it starts here but its effects won’t stay here, because people nearly the whole world over access servers right here in the United States. So this could become everybody’s problem in future, given the size and power of the corporations interested in controlling the ‘Net for profit.
If you’d like to see how your representative voted on the Markey Amendment (which “[contains] enforceable Net Neutrality provisions”) and the COPE act (”the Communications Opportunity Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006, or the COPE Act for short — which marks a dismal overhaul to federal laws concerning media, internet, and telephones in the United States” [source]), the Save the Internet.com Coalition has provided a page that tallies the vote counts for both. The results of the first round were not pretty, and split along partisan lines as you might expect, with Dems for protecting the Internet and Repubs for selling our souls, one ‘Net connection at a time. But the fight is not over.
Please — I urge you to get involved. Understand what the threats could be, learn if your representative is on the committee, sign the MoveOn Petition. More resources for you to peruse are:
- Statement: SavetheInternet.com Coalition (MoveOn, Gun Owners of America, etc.) after yesterday’s vote.
- Article: “Panel Vote Shows Rift Over ‘Net Neutrality’” Los Angeles Times, April 27, 2006.
- COPE: All about the nasty little Communications Opportunity Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006.
Don’t let corporations gain control of the Internet. Don’t let your government ignore you and sell you out. Don’t just sit there: blog, concerned ‘netizen, blog!
Thank you.
