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  • From: "Lisa K. V. Perry" <lkvp AT floydva.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Controlling the Net
  • Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:55:17 -0400

This is what I received yesterday from MoveOn.org:

Dear MoveOn member,

Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an Ipod? These activities, plus MoveOn's online organizing ability, will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet.

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 prioritizing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon.com doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

If Net Neutrality is gutted, MoveOn either pays protection money to dominant Internet providers or risks that online activism tools don't work for members. Amazon and Google either pay protection money or risk that their websites process slowly on your computer. That why these high-tech pioneers are joining the fight to protect Network Neutrality^1 —and you can do your part today.

*The free and open Internet is under seige—can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:*

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=7351-1322514-j5uAO8NSgUX4qmLorvGl.Q&t=4 <http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=7351-1322514-j5uAO8NSgUX4qmLorvGl.Q&t=4>

Then, please forward this to 3 friends. Protecting the free and open Internet is fundamental—it affects everything. When you sign this petition, you'll be kept informed of the next steps we can take to keep the heat on Congress. Votes begin in a House committee next week.

MoveOn has already seen what happens when the Internet's gatekeepers get too much control. Just last week, AOL blocked any email mentioning a coalition that MoveOn is a part of, which opposes AOL's proposed "email tax."^2 And last year, Canada's version of AT&T—Telus—blocked their Internet customers from visiting a website sympathetic to workers with whom Telus was negotiating.^3

Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Many of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the verge of selling out to people like AT&T's CEO, who openly says, "The internet can't be free."^4

Together, we can let Congress know we are paying attention. We can make sure they listen to our voices and the voices of people like Vint Cerf, a father of the Internet and Google's "Chief Internet Evangelist," who recently wrote this to Congress in support of preserving Network Neutrality:

My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage
to the Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly
permits network operators to discriminate in favor of certain
kinds of services and to potentially interfere with others
would place broadband operators in control of online
activity...Telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they
can call; network operators should not dictate what people can
do online.^4

*The essence of the Internet is at risk*—can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:**

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=7351-1322514-j5uAO8NSgUX4qmLorvGl.Q&t=5 <http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=7351-1322514-j5uAO8NSgUX4qmLorvGl.Q&t=5>

Please forward to 3 others who care about this issue. Thanks for all you do.

–Eli Pariser, Adam Green, Noah T. Winer, and the MoveOn.org Civic Action team
Thursday, April 20th, 2006

P.S. *If Congress abandons Network Neutrality, who will be affected?*

* *Advocacy groups like MoveOn*—Political organizing could be
slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask
advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and
online features to work correctly.
* *Nonprofits—*A charity's website could open at snail-speed, and
online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can't
pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of
Internet service.
* *Google users—*Another search engine could pay dominant Internet
providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine
opens faster than Google on your computer.
* *Innovators with the "next big idea"—*Startups and entrepreneurs
will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that
pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The
little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior
Internet service, unable to compete.
* *Ipod listeners*—A company like Comcast could slow access to
iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it
owned.
* *Online purchasers—*Companies could pay Internet providers to
guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors
with lower prices—distorting your choice as a consumer.
* *Small businesses and tele-commuters—*When Internet companies
like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose
more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing,
Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home
computer to your office.
* *Parents and retirees*—Your choices as a consumer could be
controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their
preferred services for online banking, health care information,
sending photos, planning vacations, etc.
* *Bloggers—*Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and
audio clips—silencing citizen journalists and putting more power
in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.

*To sign the petition to Congress supporting "network neutrality,"
click here:*

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=7351-1322514-j5uAO8NSgUX4qmLorvGl.Q&t=6

<http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=7351-1322514-j5uAO8NSgUX4qmLorvGl.Q&t=6>

P.P.S. This excerpt from the /New Yorker/ really sums up this issue well.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, as a national
telephone network spread across the United States, A.T. & T.
adopted a policy of "tiered access" for businesses. Companies
that paid an extra fee got better service: their customers'
calls went through immediately, were rarely disconnected, and
sounded crystal-clear. Those who didn't pony up had a harder
time making calls out, and people calling them sometimes got
an "all circuits busy" response. Over time, customers
gravitated toward the higher-tier companies and away from the
ones that were more difficult to reach. In effect, A.T. & T.'s
policy turned it into a corporate kingmaker.

If you've never heard about this bit of business history,
there's a good reason: it never happened. Instead, A.T. & T.
had to abide by a "common carriage" rule: it provided the same
quality of service to all, and could not favor one customer
over another. But, while "tiered access" never influenced the
spread of the telephone network, it is becoming a major issue
in the evolution of the Internet.

Until recently, companies that provided Internet access
followed a de-facto commoncarriage rule, usually called
"network neutrality," which meant that all Web sites got equal
treatment. Network neutrality was considered so fundamental to
the success of the Net that Michael Powell, when he was
chairman of the F.C.C., described it as one of the basic rules
of "Internet freedom." In the past few months, though,
companies like A.T. & T. and BellSouth have been trying to
scuttle it. In the future, Web sites that pay extra to
providers could receive what BellSouth recently called
"special treatment," and those that don't could end up in the
slow lane. One day, BellSouth customers may find that, say,
NBC.com loads a lot faster than YouTube.com, and that the
sites BellSouth favors just seem to run more smoothly. Tiered
access will turn the providers into Internet gatekeepers.^4

Sources:

1. "Telecommunication Policy Proposed by Congress Must Recognize Internet Neutrality," Letter to Senate leaders, March 23, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1653

2. "AOL Blocks Critics' E-Mails," /Los Angeles Times/, April 14, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1649

3. "B.C. Civil Liberties Association Denounces Blocking of Website by Telus," British Columbia Civil Liberties Association Statement, July 27, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1650

4. "At SBC, It's All About 'Scale and Scope," /BusinessWeek/, November 7, 2002
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1648

5. "Net Losses," /New Yorker/, March 20, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1646

6. "Don't undercut Internet access," /San Francisco Chronicle/ editorial, April 17, 2006
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1645






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