Congress is close to selling the Internet to the highest bidders, who happen to be the telecom companies. The House Commerce committee defeated an amendment by Ed Markey and others that would have prevented the companies that own the wires over which the 'net is transmitted from charging fees for use. If the bill, sponsored by Rep. Barton, becomes law, the telecom giants will have the power to regulate the 'net by selling AOL, for instance, the right to priority transmission. In other words, the big users will get the fast lane, and the rest of us--this blog included--will be relegated to the byways.
What will this mean? The end of the 'net, at least as we have known it--the end of the incredible (sorry but I'm forced to employ that overused word) diversity that we have come to expect. In its place will be the equivalent of cable TV--150 channels with nothing on. It will be like exchanging the biodiversity of the Amazon basin for the monoculture of a Nebraska wheat field. Now, I like Nebraskans, and I eat a lot of bread, but that's not all I want on my plate.
Want to stop this? Write or call your congressman and senators and tell them to fight for net neutrality, specifically by supporting the amendment sponsored by Cong. Ed Markey and Cong. Rick Boucher, both Democrats (naturally, although a number of Dems have sold out to the big money interests).
For details on this vital issue, check here, and here.
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