Re: Subject: Congress is selling out the Internet

Companies which provide the bandwidth should have every right to charge based on the bandwidth used.

File sharing websites are creating increased bandwith usage for cable and telephone companies. Bandwidth providers have spent billions of dollars building the infrastructure we all use.

> Hi Everyone,

> I don't normally post my personal affiliations online, but this is an
> issue that I believe impacts every US netizen on this board and I thought
> you might want to know about it.

> Apparently, greed is getting the better of some of our corporations and
> there is active lobbying to allow the phone companies to grant premium
> services (ie, speeding processing) only to those websites that pay for the
> access. Read on:

> "Hi,
> Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an iPod? Everything we
> do online will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law next week that
> gives giant corporations more control over what we do and see on the
> Internet.

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

> If Net Neutrality is gutted, many sites--including Google, eBay, and
> iTunes--must either pay protection money to companies like AT&T or risk
> having their websites process slowly. That why these high-tech pioneers,
> plus diverse groups ranging from MoveOn to Gun Owners of America, are
> opposing Congress' effort to gut Internet freedom.

> You can do your part today--can you sign this petition telling your member
> of Congress to preserve Internet freedom? Click here:

>
> http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C6603201-cY9asiAX.iAp1sBIx7Uk2A

> I signed this petition, along with 250,000 others so far. This petiton
> will be delivered to Congress before the House of Representatives votes
> next week. When you sign, you'll be kept informed of the next steps we can
> take to keep the heat on Congress.

> Snopes.com, which monitors various causes that circulate on the Internet,
> explained:

> Simply put, network neutrality means that no web site's traffic has
> precedence over any other's...Whether a user searches for recipes using
> Google, reads an article on snopes.com, or looks at a friend's MySpace
> profile, all of that data is treated equally and delivered from the
> originating web site to the user's web browser with the same priority. In
> recent months, however, some of the telephone and cable companies that
> control the telecommunications networks over which Internet data flows
> have floated the idea of creating the electronic equivalent of a paid
> carpool lane.

> If companies like AT&T have their way, Web sites ranging from Google to
> eBay to iTunes either pay protection money to get into the "fast
> lane" or risk opening slowly on your computer. We can't let the
> Internet--this incredible medium which has been such a revolutionary force
> for democratic participation, economic innovation, and free speech--become
> captive to large corporations.

> Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Together,
> we do care about preserving the free and open Internet.

> Please sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support
> preserving Internet freedom. Click here:

>
> http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C6603201-cY9asiAX.iAp1sBIx7Uk2A

> Thanks."

> The information comes from MoveOn.org and I apologize if you feel I posted
> this inappropriately (but I'm sure MaaMaw will take it down if I did.)