On Net Neutrality: Congress Wakes Up to a Watchful Public
November 20th, 2006 by tkarr |
In the coming weeks, major communications companies and their high-spending lobbyists will do everything they can to dismiss the Nov. 7 political result and re-assert their control over the business of policymaking.
But what happened that Tuesday has much deeper ramifications for phone and cable efforts to set the agenda.
In 2006, political corruption tipped over into public view.
It wasn’t just the glaring exposure of dirty-dealings by Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay and their cronies — but of the depths to which greed has become a part of the system. Abramoff was just one fellow traveler along a money trail that led from K Street to Capitol Hill and back again.
The revolving door of congressional staffers-cum-industry lobbyists is a part the same corruption of our democracy that has become loathsome to voters.
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The phone and cable lobby is a major player in this scheme. In the past 10 years, telecommunications, broadcasting and cable companies have spent more than half a billion dollars on campaign contributions, political action committees, PR firms and high-spending lobbyists to push through self interested policies.
These regulations – offering massive tax breaks, relaxed ownership rules, and unfettered control of the public airwaves and broadband markets — all came at the public’s expense.
On the issue of Net Neutrality, companies like AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth and Comcast outspent public interest advocates on a scale of 500 to 1 – pushing Congress to remove the longstanding nondiscrimination rules that enabled the Internet to become the greatest vehicle for free speech and economic innovation.
To do away with these freedoms, the phone and cable lobby will continue to paint issues like Net Neutrality as “unnecessary government regulations” and dismiss the groundswell of public support for this issue as the handiwork of a few “liberal groups.”
The public tolerance for this type of “Astroturfing” was tested in 2006. More than 75 percent of respondents to a September CBS/New York Time poll thought that most members of Congress “are more interested in serving special interest groups” than “serving the people they represent.”
As much as anything, the election sent a message to Congress to stop currying favor with moneyed interests and return to governing in the public interest.
Near the top of this new agenda will be restoring Net Neutrality. Many in Congress came to this realization after receiving more than a million letters from concerned citizens urging them to maintain a free and open Internet.
Whereas before, the phone companies had been confident that Congress would simply sign-off on industry-written legislation. Now — as the 109th Congress comes to a close — no member can vote with the telecom cartel without feeling the full heat of public scrutiny.
November 20th, 2006 at 11:34 am
This is the time, in my opinion, that we should be flooding congress with emails and calls and making as much noise as possible. Just because it appears we have the upper hand, we shouldn’t relax just yet.
Keep fighting until the bill that actually supports net neutrality has been signed by the president. Never stop.
November 20th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
I wonder if the senate is delaying the net neutrality bill, until such time that the public “forgets” or “loses interest” so that they can then reject the bill without the public taking notice. We need to keep a close eye on the senate while at the same time spreading the word about net neutrality. I try to inform at least several people everyday about net neutrality, I go into chat rooms (yahoo and aol) and forums to inform as many people as I can about net neutrality.
November 23rd, 2006 at 7:25 am
Time is now to redouble the efforts in relaying the importance of net neutrality to both old and new members of the congress for a decisive positive result.
November 25th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
I certainly agree with the three prior commentators, unity100, deloprator20000 and DavidGX. I’ve seen many times in which congress has used tiring tactics to push legislation by causing their opponents to lose interest. The issues surrounding Net Neutrality are of the utmost importance to the Internet and to free speech everywhere. We must remain vigilante on this issue, and even after proper legislation is passed, keep a watchful eye out for violations wrapped in new terminology.
November 26th, 2006 at 7:43 am
I’d encourage anyone who’s made a call to their representatives, sent emails or anything else to do them again and encourage anyone you know to do so as well. My mom and my sister have both done so and I hope others will too.