Keep Net Neutral...sign!...

[Acebass]

Dear MoveOn member,

Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an iPod? These activities, plus MoveOn's online organizing ability, will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

If Net Neutrality is gutted, MoveOn either pays protection money to dominant Internet providers or risks that online activism tools don't work for members. Amazon and Google either pay protection money or risk that their websites process slowly on your computer. That why these high-tech pioneers are joining the fight to protect Network Neutrality1—and you can do your part today.

The free and open Internet is under seige—can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=7375-5735503-jcfDqlYY1QSu441AqwSQCQ&t=4

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Done and wrote a note.

[helderheid]

2. done k & r

[Arkansas Granny]

3. Done. k & r

[Acebass]

4. Has this been around already?

I didn't see this posted anywhere, or I wouldn't have. I can't believe this is all the people that care...

[Nicole]

5. Yes

[Nicole]

6. delete

[nemo137]

7. K&R, done & done.

[Raksha]

8. Signed and added a note, forwarded to my family members. n/t

[intheflow]

9. I can't sign enough of these.

And I've been signing them for years, now. :grr:

K&R

[progressoid]

10. done!

[snot]

11. K&R - an earlier post on this fr last nite is already buried --

We MUST keep this kicked!

[confuddled]

12. Can't find the actual petition to sign...

just that explanatory/introductory part asking us to sign the petition. Anyone know how to find the actual petition that we would be signing?

[Acebass]

13. I've learned to trust Move On but here's what I got when I signed...

I can't blame someone for being sceptical, in this day and age especially, but I feel certain this is a good thing...

Dear friend,

Thank you. Your name has been added to the petition and your comments will be delivered to members of Congress.

Please take a moment to invite your friends and colleagues to sign this petition. Protecting Network Neutrality affects nearly everyone--online activists, Google users, Ipod listeners, work-at-home parents, small businesses, economic innovators, and others.

You can just forward the sample letter below.

Spreading the word is critical, but please only pass this message along to those who know you -- spam hurts our campaign. I feel you all know me...

Thanks for all you do. --The MoveOn.org Civic Action Team

Here's a sample message to send to your friends:

Subject: Congress is selling out the Internet

Hi,

Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an Ipod? These activities will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon.com doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer.

Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Many of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the verge of selling out to people like AT&T's CEO, who openly says, "The internet can't be free."

The free and open Internet is under seige--can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet

A list of all the ways you might be affected by Net Neutrality is located on the bottom of this link: http://civic.moveon.org/alerts/savetheinternet.html

Thanks!

[Acebass]

14. I've been posting things about this for two weeks now...

We'd better wake up and do something...


NET NEUTRALITY IN NAME ONLY: Last week, a House subcommittee rejected by a 23-8 vote an amendment by Markey that would have required net neutrality . Instead, the subcommittee vote to "codify the FCC's voluntary principles governing net neutrality ." The key word here is "voluntary." The bill would do nothing to stop cable and telecom companies from offering "premium broadband tiers and charge content providers more to use them." There are no provisions "barring anti-competitive conduct," such as favoring content produced by the company that owns the network. Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy lamented, "Members from both sides of the aisle endorsed a plan which will permit cable and phone companies to construct 'pay as you surf, pay as you post' tollbooths for the Internet. Special-interest money contributed to committee members has given the AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and others another brand new monopoly to control--our digital communications network known as the Internet. The committee's vote against 'network neutrality' was more about the power of big money to influence their anti-Internet freedom position ." (Check out the top contributors for Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), who is the sponsor of the current legislation.) Markey says the bill, as it stands now, " imperils the future of electronic commerce and innovation to the ‘world wide whims’ of broadband baron s , and ties the hands of the FCC in a way that will legally prevent it from saving something very special."

[proud patriot]

15. glad to help

[Faryn Balyncd]

16. done

thanks for posting.

[Acebass]

17. THE BUILD OUT PROBLEM:

My latest edition of my Metro Democrat newsletter had some good information on this whole issue.

THE BUILD OUT PROBLEM: The telecoms want to use public rights-of-way (i.e., the land used to build roads, etc) to build their networks. But they also want the right to provide service only to the most profitable areas within those communities . As of now, the bill lacks a so-called "build out" provision that would require telecom companies competing with a cable franchise to provide service everywhere the cable company does. The result may be that low-income and minority neighborhoods will not see the benefits of improved networks and competition.

[Acebass]

18. This effects me personally...

2 years ago I had dsl, I moved 4 blocks away and can't get it. Bellsouth won't tell me when I will be eligible to get it, if ever


BYPASSING COMMUNITIES: Currently, cable companies are required to negotiate franchise agreements with local communities to provide service. The telecoms want to compete with the cable companies but bypass communities. These negotiations are the only opportunity for towns to ensure "cable and Internet providers pay attention to labor issues, provide for technology upgrades and ensure public safety concerns are met ."