[Peace-discuss] Saving the Internet from corporate domination

[Paul Patton]

Save the Internet

www.savetheinternet.com

The 21st century is certain to be a time of rapid technological
progress.  One of the most important political issues of the 21st
century is the question of whether technology will be used in
ways that serve and empower ordinary people, or in ways that
create undemocratic concentrations of wealth and power.  The
Internet has emerged as a uniquely democratic medium in which the
website of an individual, a citizens group, or an innovative
small business is just as easily accessible as that of a powerful
corporation.  This principle of 'network neutrality' is central
to the Internet's success as a tool for democracy, economic
innovation, and social change.

Legislation advocated by greedy telecom corporations like
Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and others have recently placed network
neutrality in jeopardy.  The telecom corporations want to create
a system in which content providers would pay for classes of
accessibility, in which those who can pay the most would have the
fastest loading websites and in which the websites of those with
more limited ability to pay would be less accessible, or not
accessible at all.  As with cable television, network owners
would decide what content and services to offer, leaving
consumers to choose from their menu.

Unfortunately, on June 8 the House of Representatives passed the
"Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of
2006" (COPE).  This bill lacks any meaningful protections for
network neutrality.  Intense industry lobbying defeated an
amendment that would have instituted network neutrality
requirements.  Our last hope of preserving a free Internet now
rests with the Senate.  Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and
Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) have introduced the "Internet Freedom
Preservation Act of 2006" (S. 2917).  This bill may be introduced
as an amendment when the Senate takes up its own rewrite of the
telecommunications act this summer.  The next key hearing of the
Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled for this week.  Please
call your Senators now.  For more information about this vital
issue, and more actions you can take, check out
www.savetheinternet.com.  Once telecom corporations have begun to
reshape the Internet to their purposes the changes will be
virtually impossible to reverse.   The time to act is now.
___________________________________________________
Dr. Paul Patton
Life Sciences Building Rm 538A
work: (419)-372-3858
home: (419)-352-5523
Biology Department
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio 43403

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is
the mysterious.  It is the source of all true art
and science."
-Albert Einstein
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