SAVE THE INTERNET - Do not let Congress destroy the net

How would the gutting of Network Neutrality affect you? [link to www.savetheinternet.com]

* 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.

* Political groups—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.

* 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.

Blocking Innovation

Corporate control of the Web would reduce your choices and stifle the spread of innovative and independent ideas that we’ve come to expect online. It would throw the digital revolution into reverse. Internet gatekeepers are already discriminating against Web sites and services they don’t like:

* In 2004, North Carolina ISP Madison River blocked their DSL customers from using any rival Web-based phone service.

* In 2005, Canada’s telephone giant Telus blocked customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to the Telecommunications Workers Union during a contentious labor dispute.

* Shaw, a major Canadian cable TV company, is charging an extra $10 a month to subscribers who want to use a competing Internet telephone service.

* In April, Time Warner’s AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com — an advocacy campaign opposing the company’s pay-to-send e-mail scheme.

This is just the beginning. Cable and telco giants want to eliminate the Internet’s open road in favor of a tollway that protects their status quo while stifling new ideas and innovation. If they get their way, they’ll shut down the free flow of information and dictate how you use the Internet.

Phone, Cable May Charge to Race Along the Internet

“Consumers embraced the Internet because innovation was rapid and anyone could provide lawful content without interference or permission from those companies that control the networks.”
From Los Angeles Times, April 9, 2006
By James S. Granelli

Toll booths might start popping up on the information superhighway.

As Internet traffic starts to clog, the telephone and cable companies that control the nation’s telecommunications networks are considering charging dot-coms such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. extra to make sure their data gets special treatment — zooming along faster and more reliably than anyone else’s.
[link to www.freepress.net]

It'll go underground, thats what will happen. We will return to the days of BBS'es, but using more advanced technology. We might all revert to localised Nets again, which will make it harder for TPTB to try and globalise everything. There is a wealth of info out there on secure Nodes.

My guess is that the Internet will look quite different in a few years time, if we get that far in time of course.

Why do you think P2P portals are rife now? You could also use anonymous browsing via secure proxy servers too if push comes to shove.

For any one corporate that tries to stymy the flow of access onto the Internet, there will be dozens more opening up private portals.

Who gives a shit about mainstream corporate media via the Web anyway? It's all a load of advertisements, enticements and negative news.

Private portals are so much better, with better lockdown.

Time to disconnect from Central City.

A simple examination in some random routers to confirm the presence of any domain-dependant queueing algorithms would do the job. But I find it economically inviable to implement it in every router of the several subnets.

Without a Bill number or other relevant link, this is merely

SavetheInternet.com Coalition. Please feel free to post your comments and join a discussion about our campaign for a free and open Internet. For more information on the campaign visit:

www.SavetheInternet.com

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What’s happening in Congress?

The telephone and cable companies are filling up congressional campaign coffers and hiring high-priced lobbyists. They’ve set up “Astroturf” groups like “Hands Off the Internet” to confuse the issue and give the appearance of grassroots support.

Congress is now considering a major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act. The primary bill in the House is called the “Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006” and is sponsored by Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas), Rep Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Rep. Charles Pickering (R-Miss.) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.).

The current version of the COPE Act includes watered-down net neutrality provisions that are essentially meaningless. An amendment offered in a key subcommittee by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), which would have instituted real net neutrality requirements, was defeated after intense industry lobbying against it.

But it’s not too late yet. A full committee vote on the measure — and another opportunity to save the Internet — could happen as soon as April 26.

The Senate is moving more deliberately on the issue. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has introduced the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006, which would ensure net neutrality. And Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Byron Dorgan (R-N.D.) are expected to introduce bipartisan amendment supporting net neutrality when the Senate takes up its own rewrite of the Telecommunications Act later this year.

But neither chamber will support the free and open Internet without widespread public pressure. To keep the Internet free and open, Congress needs to hear from millions of Americans right now.
[link to www.savetheinternet.com]

What is network neutrality?

"Network neutrality" — or "net neutrality" for short — is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet.

Net neutrality ensures that all users can access the content or run the applications and devices of their choice. With net neutrality, the network's only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service.

Net neutrality is the reason why the Internet has driven innovation and economic growth. It's why the Internet has become an unrivaled environment for open communications, civic involvement and free speech.

But there's currently no law on the books protecting net neutrality. If Congress doesn't take action now, the future of the Internet is at risk.

[link to www.savetheinternet.com]

Who wants to get rid of net neutrality?

The nation's largest telephone and cable companies — including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner — want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.
[link to www.savetheinternet.com]
They want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video — while slowing down or blocking their competitors.
[link to www.savetheinternet.com]

These companies have a new vision for the Internet. Instead of an even playing field, they want to reserve express lanes for their own content and services — or those from big corporations that can afford the steep tolls — and a leave the rest of us on a winding dirt road.
[link to www.savetheinternet.com]
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TAKE ACTION NOW WRITE YOUR CONGRESS PERSON:
[link to action.freepress.net]