Congresswoman: Keep the Net in Hands of Ordinary People
May 4th, 2006 by tkarr“The Internet has revolutionized the way Americans communicate with one another and do business,” writes Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. “It’s just common sense to keep that revolution where it belongs–in the hands of ordinary individuals, instead of a handful of big corporations.”
In a CNet News op-ed, the California Representative chides the House Commerce Committee, which “passed up its chance to keep the Internet open,” and calls on every elected official to stand firm against the telephone-cable cartel:
The latest chapter in that attack on freedom is the fight against network neutrality. For most Americans, our options for broadband Internet come down to two choices–a phone company or a cable company. Instead of continuing our freedom to use those connections with whatever content, devices and services we want, some corporations want to control what we access over the Internet. This would include giving better connections to their favored content, and charging money for that privilege.
What would the world look like if the Internet had been controlled in this way a few years ago? Imagine if the students who created Google or Yahoo had been charged a fee by a phone company for the privilege of letting their potential users have fast access. These small projects would not have turned into big ideas that revolutionized the World Wide Web. The proposed control of content goes directly against the level playing field created by Internet technology. The concept of freedom written about by Thomas Paine is being challenged by this threat to net neutrality.
If Thomas Paine were alive today, Lofgren adds, he would “write a blog about the need to protect Internet independence that would reach across the world.” By this morning’s count, more than 2,500 blogs are carrying the torch handed down by this founding revolutionary — linking to SavetheInternet.com and spreading the grassroots fire.
Click here, to get your blog involved.
