The story has finally made it onto big media, both National and International– CNN (by way of Popular Science), Google News, The Wall Street Journal, PortalIT, Wired, Washington Monthly, and many more sources are now questioning the advisability of messing with the current status quo which is Net Neutrality.

Other Celebs and large Corporations have joined in the fight, notably REM, Moby, Q-Tip, Trent Reznor and the Nine Inch Nails, Wilco, the Indigo Girls and the Dixie Chicks as a growing coalition of “Artists and Musicians for Internet Freedom,” as well as the very powerful Financial Services and Banking Lobby. The Father of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee, has been very vocal about the need for Network Neutrality. Ebay has also stepped into the fray- it’s nice to know that Ebay founders remember their roots as just a few nerds with a great idea and a few servers, the type of idea and company startup that will be impossible in the future for those with shallow pockets if the Telecomms have their way.

What amazes me about this whole fight is the way the Telecomms are acting like this is a trivial “non-issue” whereas what they’re proposing to do is “fix” something that isn’t broken, but in a way that only benefits them. The Telecomms talk of bandwidth use as if they aren’t already charging us for it by usage and speed. I right now pay more for faster throughput, so how can they say that they NEED to charge both ends, especially when the fees will come out of my pocket no matter who is charged? If my Bank has to pay for faster pipe use, they’re going to take it out of my pocket in higher banking fees. If Amazon.com has to pay for faster pipes, they’re going to raise their prices- and the only beneficiaries here are the Telecomms. I have no argument with paying if I’m snagging more bandwidth than the next guy, and neither does anyone else, what I have a problem with is CENSORSHIP and RESTRAINT OF TRADE, which is what this whole issue is about, and what those who would take away our Network Neutrality are fighting to ensure.

Please join Save the Internet and make your voice heard before Congress votes on this very important issue. Please let your legislators know that they will not get your vote if they vote for the Telecomms.

Technorati Tags: Save the Internet, Network Neutrality, Tim Berners Lee, Ebay, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Artists and Musicians for Internet Freedom, Dixie Chicks, Moby, REM, Nine Inch Nails, Democracy

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 28th, 2006 at 11:09 amunder Web News and . Comment RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.