Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["christian stalberg" <cstalberg AT web-analysts.net>]

Keep the Internet Open

In the wake of yesterday's court decision in favor of Comcast, that
basically rejected the authority of the FCC to regulate internet access,
ColorofChange.org has posted a petition urging the FCC to take up the fight.
This is an important battle on a new front in the media consolidation wars,
and the FCC will need our help to win.

 I urge you to sign the petition, and if you are interested  in getting
involved more directly, get in touch with me  off-list and I'll plug  you
in.

this one is just getting started...

Nan Rubin

* * * *

Dear friends,

The Internet has made amazing things possible, like freeing the Jena 6 and
electing President Obama. None of it could have happened without an "open"
Internet: one where Internet service providers are not allowed to interfere
with what is seen and by whom.

http://www.colorofchange.org/opennet/?id=2113-1104426

Now, Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon -- the most powerful broadband providers --
are trying to fundamentally change the way the Internet works. They're
seeking to make even bigger profits by acting as gatekeepers over what we
see and do online. If they succeed, the Internet would be more like radio
and television: a few major corporations would control which voices are
heard most easily, and it would be much harder for grassroots groups,
individuals, and small businesses to compete with large corporations and
well- funded special interests.

The FCC wants to do the right thing and keep the Internet open, but the big
providers have been attacking their efforts, with help from Black leaders
who have financial ties to the industry. And a recent court ruling just made
the FCC's job even tougher.[1] If the FCC is to preserve an open Internet,
they will have to boldly assert their authority and press even harder. It's
why they need to hear directly from everyday people about the importance of
an open Internet, now.

Will you join me in sending a message to the Federal Communications
Commission supporting their effort to preserve an open Internet? It takes
only a moment:
http://www.colorofchange.org/opennet/?id=2113-1104426

The FCC is working to create rules that would protect "net neutrality," the
principle that protects an open and free Internet and which has guided the
Internet's operation since it began. It guarantees that information you put
online is treated the same as anyone else's information in terms of its
basic ability to travel across the Internet. Your own personal website or
blog can compete on equal footing with the biggest companies. It's the
reason the Internet is so diverse -- and so powerful. Anyone with a good
idea can find their audience online, whether or not there's money to promote
the idea or money to be made from it.

AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon are spending millions of dollars lobbying to
create a new system where they can charge large fees to speed up some data
while leaving those who can't afford to pay in the slow lane.[2] Such a
system could end the Internet as we know it -- giving wealthier voices on
the Internet a much bigger megaphone than poorer voices, and stunting the
Internet's amazing equalizing potential. Buying the support of Black
organizations?

President Obama strongly supports net neutrality, and so do most members of
the FCC. With so much at stake for Black communities, you would expect Black
leaders and civic organizations to line up in support of an open Internet.
But instead, a group of Black civic organizations is challenging the
adoption of net neutrality rules. Some of the groups are nothing more than
front groups for the phone and cable companies. Others, however, are major
civil rights groups -- and all of them have significant financial ties to
the nation's biggest Internet service providers. For example, AT&T donated
half a million dollars last year to the NAACP, and led a drive to raise $5
million more[3], and boasts of donating nearly $3 million over the last ten
years to a number of Black-led organizations.[4] Verizon, meanwhile,
recently gave The National Urban League and the National Council of La Raza
a $2.2 million grant.[5] Comcast is one of the National Urban League's
"national partners" (Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen now sits
on the NUL's Board of Trustees)[6], and the NUL's 2008 annual report notes
that Comcast donated over $1 million that year.[7] Many of these groups have
now filed letters with the FCC opposing or cautioning against net
neutrality,[8,9,10,11] and the Internet service providers are using the
groups'
support to promote their agenda in Washington.[12,13]

The main argument put forth by these groups is that net neutrality rules
would widen the digital divide. They say that unless we allow Internet
service providers to make bigger profits by acting as gatekeepers online,
they won't expand Internet access in under-served communities. It's a bogus,
trickle-down argument that has been thoroughly debunked.[14, 15] Expanding
access to high speed Internet is an extremely important goal. But Internet
service providers are already making huge profits,[16, 17] and if they
believed that investing in low-income communities made good business sense,
they would already be doing it. Allowing them to make more money by acting
as toll-takers on the Internet won't change that. When these civil rights
groups have been asked to back up their arguments, none have been able to do
so without appealing to discredited, industry- funded studies.[18]
Nevertheless, the FCC has taken notice of what these civil rights groups are
saying about net neutrality, and is wary of going against them for fear of
being perceived as insensitive to minority concerns.[19]

Now it's up to you

The FCC wants to do the right thing and implement net neutrality rules. FCC
commissioners know, as we do, that the anti-net neutrality arguments coming
from civil rights groups are bogus. But they don't want to appear to be on
the wrong side of Black interests.[20]

We need to demonstrate that there's support among Black folks and everyone
else for protecting an open Internet.
Please join me in telling the FCC that we support net neutrality.

You can add your voice here:
http://www.colorofchange.org/opennet/?id=2113-1104426

Thanks.



References:
1.  http://bit.ly/drWbQ3
2.  http://www.savetheinternet.com/threats-open-internet
3 . http://bit.ly/akyXZS
4.  http://bit.ly/aGOz89
5.  http://www.nclr.org/content/news/detail/54262/
6.  http://bit.ly/93zDr6
7.  http://bit.ly/dnqyq4
8.  http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020141807
9.   
http://mmtconline.org/lp-pdf/NatlOrgs%20NN%20Comments%20011410.pdf
10.  http://colorofchange.org/opennet/jan-letter.pdf
11.  http://colorofchange.org/opennet/naacp-letters.pdf
12.  http://colorofchange.org/opennet/usindustry-letter.pdf
13.  http://bit.ly/d8GdOu
14.  http://www.freepress.net/files/nn_fact_v_fiction_final.pdf
15.  http://bit.ly/ay0dx7
16.  http://bit.ly/9JQSDk
17.  http://nyti.ms/cZaGq8
18.  http://bit.ly/cpPA51
19.  http://huff.to/awKtvk
20.  http://huff.to/awKtvk