There is a battle going on in the US about the Internet which could have a world-wide effect on Internet use
US Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)introduced the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2007, reopening the debate in the US Congress over Net Neutrality — the fundamental principle that prevents Internet service providers from discriminating on-line. The US bipartisan "Internet Freedom and Nondiscrimination Act next moves to the full House after Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess.
Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination. Net Neutrality is the reason why the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation, and free speech on-line. It protects the consumer's right to use any equipment, content, application or service on a non-discriminatory basis without interference from the network provider. With Net Neutrality, the network's only job is to move data — not choose which data to privilege with higher quality service. Net Neutrality has been part of the Internet since its inception. Pioneers like Vinton Cerf and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, always intended the Internet to be a neutral network. And "non-discrimination" provisions like Net Neutrality have governed the nation's communications networks since the 1930s.
Large telephone and cable companies — including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner — want to become the Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all. They want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video — while slowing down or blocking their competitors. These companies have a new vision for the Internet. Instead of an even playing field, they want to reserve express lanes for their own content and services — or those from big corporations that can afford the steep tolls — and leave the rest of us on a winding dirt road. To achieve their goals they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying the US Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to destroy Net Neutrality and putting the future of the Internet at risk. Small business owners benefit from an Internet that allows them to compete directly — not one where they can't afford the price of entry. Net Neutrality ensures that innovators can start small and dream big about being the next EBay or Google without facing insurmountable hurdles. Without Net Neutrality, startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay for a top spot on the Web.
John Kneuer, assistant secretary of commerce and head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), who prior to his appointment in the Bush Administration served as a top phone company lobbyist for the Washington law firm Piper Rudnick, has stated that "the Freedom Preservation Act of 2007 interferes with the “free market” (by which he means the current duopoly of large phone and cable companies) which should be unencumbered by consumer protections and basic Internet freedoms." Internet guru Cory Doctorow writes: "For AT&T and Verizon to be screaming for the protection of the free market against Net Neutrality is “sheer hypocrisy because they themselves are creatures of government regulation, basing their business on government-granted extraordinary privileges.” There is a battle going on in the US about the Internet which could have a world-wide effect on Internet use.
The SavetheInternet.com Coalition is urging people in America to continue writing and calling their members of Congress until Network Neutrality becomes law.
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