Rep. Clarke just sold you out to ATT, Verizon and Comca

rosweed · May 2010

A free and open Internet is an important part of 21st Century democracy, but Rep. Clarke signed a letter that undercut the efforts of the FCC to make sure the Internet stays free and open.

In other words, she decided to stand with wealthy corporations rather than stand up for your interests.

Click here to automatically sign the petition to Rep. Clarke telling her you want her to stand up for you, not the telecoms.

The simple fact of the matter is that powerful companies with a vested interest in this fight like AT&T have armies of lobbyists to push their agenda.

If Rep. Clarke is going to get the message that it's unacceptable for her to sell out her constituents, it's only going to be because people like you speak up.

74 Democratic members of Congress just sold you out to AT&T, Verizon and
Comcast.

They signed industry-backed letters telling the FCC to abandon efforts to
protect Internet users by prohibiting big companies from blocking Internet
traffic.

Not only is this letter an attack on net neutrality, but by signing the
industry letter, they are attempting to drastically undercut the FCC's
ability to make a fast, affordable and open Internet available to everyone
in America. They are actually taking a position against the interests of
rural and low-income communities.

This is unacceptable.

We need to make sure these members of Congress know that their
constituents are paying attention and will hold them accountable when they
undermine net neutrality protections.

I just signed a petition to these 74 House Democrats telling them that I'm
upset by their decision to side with the wealthy telecommunications
corporations over their constituents. I hope you do, too.

Have a look and take action at the link below.

http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=5593&id=9345-1552400-FE7wSWx&t=9

jeffrey · May 2010

^ lest the internet turn into what has become of radio today

mha · May 2010

Here's a question: Is it possible to increase the signal on a wireless router? Why not get a petition out and tell all the people within range of a signal, 'hey, give me a percentage of what I pay for my internet service and I will give you the password. It would be like going to a coffee shop or a diner and simply using their wireless service. It wouldn't be about making a profit, just sharing the cost. I don't know much about these things, but is that a possibility?

A buddy of mine in Harlem gave his wireless password to th eneighbors in his apartment building so that they can have access. Why can't people do that?

outside child · May 2010

I on neighbours wifi right now ;-)

carnivore · May 2010

jeffrey wrote: ^ lest the internet turn into what has become of radio today

I think a better analogy for what net neutrality is trying to prevent is today's cable tv. Without net neutrality, getting your Internet access could become like getting cable today, with access limited to preferred sites that have deals with ISPs. You might get a "basic package" of Google (or maybe your ISP would only offer Bing), Yahoo, CNN, Amazon, Facebook, Hulu, IMDB, etc. For more money, you would be able to access additional sites. For the highest price, you might get unrestricted access. Even within that, the ISPs would be able to prioritize traffic for certain sites, so that say Fox News would load quickly while Daily Kos and Huffington Post took forever (or vice versa).

The lying Republicans that opposed net neutrality in Congress (before the FCC did the right thing on its own), and the turncoat Democrats who have signed this letter of opposition have tried to paint net neutrality as government controlling content on the Internet. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Net neutrality is about preventing anyone from controlling content, and keeping the Internet free as it is today (not free as in monetarily, but free as in without controls on content).

jeffrey · May 2010

^ Agreed.

One issue along the radio comparison lines on a different point is for the content provider (as well as the consumer, as a result),

If certain types of content (audio, video, images) are heavier and cost more to provide to the public, the big companies will inevitably consolidate the market and squeeze out all the little guys that can no longer afford it (as Clear Channel etc. have done on radio).

That points to the death of small, independent content providers, choked by fees lobbied for (and better afforded by) the larger media companies acting just like Clear Channel does in radio today,

This is completely different from tiered cable in that tiered cable is still made up just of different offerings of many of the same large and medium-sized media companies, not small independent operators that could never dream of affording the price of providing that (and paying through the nose to compete for the limited slots in the cable tiers).

Back to the radio comparison, a move to expensive fees for heavier content on the internet would utterly kill the long tail of diverse small operators and content providers (be it super tiny guys or now-classics like homestar runner, some indy internet radio stations, a blogger like TPM or Perez Hilton, a startup like tomorrow's twitter or facebook or fousquare etc..) and homogenizes the marketplace in terms of variety and innovation, which suuuucks for the consumer, which is what currently remains of the radio marketplace.

Be it the consumer access issue (a la the cable comparison) or the supply attrition--> consolidation/homogenization issue (a la the radio comparison) there ain't much to like about this, unless you own one of those big companies pressing for it.

mha · June 2010

I absolutely hate having to use cable to get online. I don't have the infamous 'Triple Play' as I don't need to watch a gazillion channels of television nor do I have a phone line as I only use my cell phone. I have cable just so that I can access the Internet, and I think I am paying a disproportionately higher cost because of that. I wish that my neighborhood was a less insular place and I could approach someone and say, hey, wanna go halvsies on the cost of the Internet?

carnivore · July 2010

Al Franken is awesome.

jeffrey · July 2010

:cheers: =D> :cheers: =D> :cheers: =D> :cheers: =D> :cheers: =D> :cheers: =D> :salut:

Rep. Clarke just sold you out to ATT, Verizon and Comca

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