Corporate Greed and Politicians– Perfect Together. Now they’re trying to sell our internet to the highest bidder, ensuring that only those with the bucks can access the “higher tier” content. I’m embarassed to note that both NJ and PA representatives voted against the Markey amendment to ensure Network Neutrality.

Congressmen Barton and Rush are the culprits in this. I find it interesting that the two who put forth this bill have benefitted greatly from the largesse of the Telecoms. Barton’s major campaign contributors are PACs which get a great deal of money from those Telecoms, according to OpenSecrets.org, while Rush, according to the Chicago Sun Times, recently received a $1 million grant from the charitable arm of SBC/AT&T, one of the nation’s largest phone companies.

What does the end of network neutrality mean? The best overview I’ve found has been posted on WebPro News, which states, “It is possible then, that only the largest companies with the largest budgets will be able to afford delivery of premium content, while deepening the digital divide as the average consumer is left with the Internet scraps he can afford (and used to get for free). Detractors say an end to Net Neutrality will end innovation and block access to Web, while giving telecoms the ability to censor websites and block or degrade competing web services. ”

The coalition to Save the Internet has attracted such diverse entities as Vinton Cerf, one of the “fathers of the Internet” and Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist, Gun Owners of America, MoveOn.org, Craig Newmark of Craigslist, Glenn Reynolds (aka libertarianblogger Instapundit), the American Library Association, Afro-Netizen.com, the Consumer Federation of America, the Consumers Union, and Public Knowledge. The diversity of the coalition speaks for itself. This bill is against every internet user’s interests and will only benefit the companies who sell broadband access to the internet. Period.

There’s been similar legislation that was passed in Canada, with the result that Free Speech has been blocked in one issue. That’s just a small taste of things to come if this bill is passed in the US.

Other articles about this issue have been written in the Free Press– one about Rush and his conflicts of interest, one about the impact this network neutrality bill will have on all of us, and a good overview of the ironically named “Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006” that proposes to take away our internet freedom.

Please write to your Senators and get this bill blocked. Please sign the petition at Save the Internet!

Technorati Tags: Save the Internet, Network Neutrality, Telecoms, Politicians, Greed, Petition

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 27th, 2006 at 8:36 pm and is filed under Web News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.