Thanks!

As the mercury soared in August, SavetheInternet.com members hit the pavement to visit members of Congress and amplify nationwide calls for Net Neutrality.

All told this year we have held 60 meetings with members of Congress. This work has been bolstered by hundreds of thousands of letters sent to Washington in support of open, affordable and universal Internet access.

Rep. Waxman (D-Cal.) gets the message

The cornerstone of this effort is Net Neutrality — the baseline protection that stops government and corporate gatekeepers from filtering and favoring Web traffic.

In their meetings, Net Neutrality supporters urged their elected representatives to join the open Internet agenda by supporting Net Neutrality legislation and our big-picture campaign to free America’s Internet from the control of phone and cable giants.

Telcos Shouldn’t Limit Freedom

“We made it clear that the purpose of Net Neutrality was to maintain equality on the Internet for small businesses and for individuals,” Kay Bradley of Itasca told Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Illinois). “It’s not to allow these big corporations to use pricing and degrees of speed to limit others from being treated equally.”

“Over and over I stressed that it was up to the courts and Congress to set the parameters for free speech, not the Telcos,” Norm Cimon of La Grande told staffers for Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon). “Their business models demand absolute control of a resource like Internet. This is antithetical to that freedom.”

With Rep. Wilson (R-N.Mex.), a Strong Supporter

“I explained that the loss of Net Neutrality would have devastating effects on many different people and organizations in Southeastern Ohio,” Mark Stone of Zanesville told a representative for Congressman Zack Space (D-Ohio).

Stone sits on the board of the Eastside Community Ministry, which uses the Internet for outreach and assistance to community members in crisis. “I am glad I could participate in this issue and look forward to being involved in the future,” he said.

“These efforts by all of us do make a difference,” said Free Press Online Community Organizer Ira Horowitz.

“They remind politicians and regulators in Washington that Net Neutrality is a concept that resounds beyond the Beltway – that millions of Americans simply want our leaders to listens to us and not just the lobbyists and shills who crowd the halls outside their offices.”

Washington’s Toxic Byproduct

Bad legislation is the toxic byproduct of a system that lets companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast spend hundreds of millions of dollars to distort the debate, dictate policy and force their narrow agenda upon our democratic process.

The only thing way we can counter moneyed interests is through sheer numbers of people who are actively signing petitions, making donations, writing letters and speaking out before their members of Congress.

There is more work to be done in 2007 and beyond. Making an open and neutral Internet accessible to everyone is among the most essential work of our time.

We must continue to press our leaders for sound public policies that help, not hurt, us.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 11:20 am 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.