This website under attack by the U.S. Congress

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

If the telecommunications companies and their allies in the U.S. Congress have their way, the bum’s cynical prophecy could soon come true. “The wide and unbounded Internet could soon be fenced in by cable and phone firms. Higher prices and less choice may lie ahead under a misguided bill moving forward in Congress,” says the San Francisco Chronicle. The New Yorker spells it out:

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.

Fortunately, big Internet companies such as Google and Yahoo are being joined by political advocacy groups from across the political spectrum in opposing this assault on network neutrality. Here’s what’s at stake, according to MoveOn.org:

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.

I’ve been blogging at least six days a week for two and a half years now, and I have never asked my readers for a penny. But now I’m asking all Via Negativa readers who are U.S. citizens to please sign the MoveOn petition.

For maximum impact, call or write your congresscritter directly (find his/her contact information here). I’ll share my own letter to my Republican congressman as soon as I receive his response. Note that the automatic email page also displays the contact information for your representative’s local office(s), if you want to save money on a toll call. Thanks!

UPDATE (8:00 p.m.): To stay abreast of developments on this issue, bookmark Save the Internet.com. Despite losing the committee vote to preserve network neutrality today, they report that

There’s a white hot firestorm on the issue on Capitol Hill. No one wants to see the telcos make a radical change to the internet and screw this medium up, except, well, the telcos. And now members of Congress are listening to us. The telcos have spent hundreds of millions of dollars and many years lobbying for their position; we launched four days ago, and have closed a lot of ground. Over the next few months, as the public wakes up, we’ll close the rest of it.

6 Replies to “This website under attack by the U.S. Congress”

  1. Just reading, “Crimes Against Nature”, by R.F. Kennedy, Jr. I hadn’t known or had forgotten the FCC used to uphold something that was know as The Fairness Doctrine. Broadcasters, as holders of a public trust were, held accountable to give time to opposing views. That ethos seems unimaginable now. Reagan FCC appointees deregulated the airways in the late 1980s with the arguement that cableTV afforded listeners and viewers access to “diverse sources of information.” It was an arguement that must have stood in the Supreme Court.

  2. Yeah, I remember that. I used to take advantage of the Fairness Doctrine on a regular basis back in the late 1980s by giving local stations public service announcements to read. Of course, sometimes the morning DJs also made fun of them, but it was still free publicity.

  3. I signed on Wednesday. It would be a shame in this climate to let money decide how the internet works. The unregulated internet seems to be the last place for our public voices to be heard, except for standing in the public square screaming our heads off, or sitting like your bum with our signs.

  4. I signed the petition, then wrote my representatives. Here is a quote, from my Iowa Representative, Tom Harkin. He is referring to what the proposed bill should contain.

    ” …the bill should provide for a level playing field that assures real competition between established phone and cable companies, and newer companies seeking to provide innovative new products and services at competitive prices. That means that any changes to the local franchising
    process which currently works well in Iowa must not allow certain areas within a community to receive unequal access to services, and it means that the Internet networks must remain open and neutral….”

    Currently the bill has been approved in Congress, but it still has to go through the House.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.