Save the Internet (No Joke)

Posted on Apr 22, 2006

A coalition of conservatives and progressive has formed to defeat a law that would allow Internet provider companies to decide which sites load up the fastest--based on who pays the most. Such a law would upend the even playing field that every site on the Web now enjoys. Check it out and contact your congressperson.

When a right-wing blog like Instapundit and a left-wing organization like MoveOn.org get together on something, it’s worth paying attention to.

From Save The Internet:

Congress is pushing a law that would abandon Network Neutrality, the Internet’s First Amendment. Network neutrality prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for you—based on what site pays them the most. Your local library shouldn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer.

Net Neutrality allows everyone to compete on a level playing field and is the reason that the Internet is a force for economic innovation, civic participation and free speech. If the public doesn’t speak up now, Congress will cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by telephone and cable companies that want to decide what you do, where you go, and what you watch online.

This isn’t just speculation—we’ve already seen what happens elsewhere when the Internet’s gatekeepers get too much control. Last year, Canada’s version of AT&T—Telus—blocked their Internet customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to workers with whom Telus was negotiating. And Shaw, a major Canadian cable company, charges an extra $10 a month to subscribers who dare to use a competing Internet telephone service.

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