Citizens Thwart Sneak Attack on Internet in N.C.

Time Warner Cable and AT&T tried to pull a fast one on North Carolina residents before most of us even had our morning coffee today. Turns out stifling Internet access happens at all hours of the day.

But even the companies’ powerful team of lobbyists couldn’t stand up to the overwhelming netroots and grassroots pressure to stop a bad bill that would keep the Internet out of millions of people’s hands in North Carolina.

The proposed legislation would have protected cable and phone company monopolies while squashing efforts by towns and cities to build their own local broadband networks. These municipal networks can connect areas that industry giants like AT&T and Time Warner Cable have long overlooked and refused to service.

Yesterday, activists from across the state and on the Internet were celebrating what appeared to be a victory.  After an intense round of public pressure, a House committee sent the bill to a “study committee,” a pleasant way of putting it out to pasture.

By early this morning, Twitter feeds and blogs were sounding the alarm: The fight was back on. Time Warner Cable and AT&T had orchestrated a sneak attack, hoping to slip the bill through the Senate by getting legislators to move a committee meeting up to 8 a.m.  The industry plan was to get a vote for the legislation before we had a chance to boot up our computers and guzzle our first caffeine.

Concerned citizens started to scramble.  We had the Internet on our side – you know, the thing AT&T and Time Warner Cable want to control. Social media sites, Twitter feeds and e-mails lit up, urging North Carolinians to blast their legislators with calls and e-mails even before the legislature opened for business. And the urgent action appeals online were met with concerted grassroots efforts on the ground to get people to show up at the statehouse.

In the end, the companies’ sunrise assault was no match for the people, who effectively lobbied their legislatures to abandon the bill. The Senate followed suit, also tabling the bill in a “study committee.”

Ideally, the legislature would have come out with an unequivocal “NO” vote to reject the bill outright. But a slow death by committee might do the trick, too.

As Phillip Dampier at StoptheCap.com warns, we must continue to stay vigilant to make sure this bill doesn’t pop back up. After all, it looks like Time Warner Cable and AT&T will stop at nothing to own the Net.

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