Thanks!

A quick hat tip to the people of Maine who took a forceful stand against phone and cable companies by passing a state resolution that creates a watchdog against telco plans to discriminate.

Maine, which is also home to U.S. Senator and Net Neutrality champion Olympia Snowe, has taken the lead for other states that seek stronger action to protect their citizens’ right to an open Internet.

Keeping Watch Against the Telcos

The resolution, which passed both the Maine’s House and Senate earlier this week, directs the state’s Public Advocate to “monitor state and federal activity relating to full and fair access to the Internet.”

It sets in place a watchdog against the type of content tampering that has been proposed by executives of the nation’s largest phone and cable companies.

The resolution is also a resounding moral victory against phone company shills who have tripped over themselves to discredit efforts by Mainers and spin the legislative action as a win for their bosses at AT&T and Verizon. Don’t believe a word of it.

Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, said the resolution puts the state in a leading role in protecting citizens’ rights to decide what they do and where they go online.

“I am pleased to report that Maine, whose motto is ‘Dirigo’ which is Latin for ‘I lead,’ is now the first state in the nation to make a strong stand in support of Net Neutrality,” said Jon Bartholomew of Common Cause.

Bartholomew organized support for the resolution alongside Bellows and other representatives from public interest groups, consumer advocates, small businesses in Maine. State bloggers also took up the cause organizing support from across the political spectrum.

For many the issue is simple. We either build an Internet for everybody or let powerful corporations control it for the few. This week the people of Maine took an important step to ensure that our Internet remains free of gatekeepers.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.