Markey Pledges to Keep the Net Neutrality Wave Rolling
January 14th, 2007 by tkarrIt’s not the fear of God, it’s the fear of voters that scares politicians in Washington, Congressman Ed Markey said Saturday in Memphis.
The Massachusetts Democrat, who now chairs the House Subcommittee that will oversee all telecommunications legislation, promised to protect Internet freedom in his elevated role within Congress.
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“We are going to in Washington have a historic debate over the next two years and I will chair the committee that is having those hearings,” Markey told the audience.
“I can promise you this, that unlike the last two years it just won’t be the CEOs of the telephone and cable companies who are there. You will be selecting witnesses to testify right next to them on the same day before the same Congressmen so that the voices of the American people will be heard as well.”
Markey spoke before a crowded convention hall including many hundred SavetheInternet.com Coalition members. The Congressman praised our Coalition’s grassroots campaign, which delivered nearly 1.5 million petitions to Capitol Hill.
“Let me tell you something about Congress,” Markey said. “Congress is a stimulus response institution. There is nothing more stimulating than having 1.5 million people who say I don’t think I want you to keep your job if you won’t keep your hands off the Internet.”
Markey blasted the phone and cable company assault on Net Neutrality, pledging to foster openness, innovation and neutrality during his tenure. But, said markey, he couldn’t safeguard Internet freedom on his own.
According to Markey, the digital revolution has the potential to change our society only if we “animate these technologies with the human values that represent our highest aspirations for our society.”
“The wave of the future is a wave of technological empowerment and innovation. It is a wave of grassroots activism that can make a difference in Washington, D.C. down to every single community in our country. It’s a wave of digital democracy the likes of which we have never seen in the history of our country.”
Markey closed by promising to work with the public to keep this Net Neutrality wave rolling.
January 14th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Well…this doesn’t have much to do with the post, but it does have to do with the website. I couldn’t find any contact info, so…
I just thought I should bring people’s attention to this. There’s been some spammers out there using the ’save the internet’ battlecry to advertise their websites. They’ve been frequenting a number of forums and recently hit the Comic Genesis one, where I’m a regular.
Their post is here-(http://forums.comicgenesis.com/viewtopic.php?t=79038)
I don’t know if much can be done about it, but I thought I’d point it out just in case.
February 19th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
[…] I wrote before about the defeat of Senate bill HR5252, which would have dealt a major blow to network neutrality and changed the internet as we know it. There is still an uphill battle to be fought, however things are looking rosier. The November elections ousted many of the congressmen and women that were against net neutrality, a bipartisan neutrality bill has been introduced, and Ed Markey, chairman of the senate subcommittee that oversees telecommunication, has promised to keep the net neutrality ball rolling. […]
May 14th, 2007 at 11:59 am
[…] the hearing, Hurley told Chairman Ed Markey that an open Internet allowed YouTube to start its business. “We were on the same playing field […]