So, do we have a new movement joining the ranks of UFPJ and others - this time, to build a new internet and bypass the corporate corrupted one?
Mike
Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
http://snipurl.com/ps1x
Yahoo! News
Opinion
Key House Panel Defeats Net Neutrality
Jeff Chester Thu Apr 27, 5:26 PM ET
The Nation -- The GOP House leadership rejected calls Wednesday to
preserve the Internet's open and democratic nature in the United
States. Phone and cable industry lobbyists breathed a sigh of relief
as the House Energy and Commerce Committee defeated, 34 to 22, an
amendment to a broadband communications bill (known as the
Barton-Rush Act) that would require "network neutrality." Under the
proposal, developed by Massacusetts Democrat Ed Markey and others,
phone and cable companies would have been prohibited from
transforming the Internet into a private, pay-as-you-post toll road.
Over the past week, there has been a remarkable outpouring of public
and corporate support for network neutrality. SavetheInternet.com,
organized by Free Press and representing dozens of nonprofit groups
and leading Internet experts, helped generate 250,000 signatures in
less than a week for an online petition calling on Congress to
protect the Internet and pass the Markey bill.
This new group, a collection of unusual bedfellows that runs the
political gamut from Common Cause, the Gun Owners of America and the
Parents TV Council to Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, also spurred
many bloggers to take a strong stand (ranging from the liberal Daily
Kos to the libertarian Instapundit).
Meanwhile, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay and IAC, which
make up the Network Neutrality Coalition, unveiled their "Don't Mess
With the Net" campaign, running ads in Roll Call and The Hill
targeting lawmakers. MoveOn.org's new Save the Internet campaign also
generated many letters and e-mails to members of Congress.
It is puzzling, though, why Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and allies have
not unleashed a serious--and very public--nationwide campaign in
support of network neutrality. So far, these giants have worked
cautiously, largely inside the Beltway, reflecting perhaps their
corporate ambivalence about calling on Congress to pass
Internet-related safeguards. Unlike the phone and cable efforts,
there has been no saturation-TV or print-advertising campaign,
something these deep-pocketed digital giants could eaily afford.
This growing pressure on the Democrats to stand up for an open
Internet helped convince House minority leader Nancy Pelosi to
formally support the call for network neutrality. Consequently, only
five House Commerce Committee Democrats voted with the GOP majority
to kill the digital nondiscrimination plan, including Edolphus Townes
(New York), Albert Wynn (Maryland), Charles Gonzalez (Texas), Bobby
Rush (Illinois) and Gene Green (Texas). Only one Republican committee
member, Heather Wilson of New Mexico, voted in support of the network
neutrality amendment.
Giants including AT&T (SBC), Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner have
staked their business plans for the Internet based on being able to
control and "monetize" the flow of digital communications coming into
PCs, digital TVs and mobile services. The
Federal Communications Commission--at the behest of the phone and
cable lobby--recently overturned longstanding safeguards requiring
the Internet to operate in a nondiscriminatory manner. The two
industries are spending tens of millions of dollars to fight off any
Congressional safeguard for the Internet that would restore the
nondiscrimination principle.
Commerce Committee chair Joe Barton and House Speaker
Dennis Hastert have been the chief cheerleaders for the cable and
phone lobby. On Wednesday, Barton derided the call for network
neutrality, claiming that it's "still not clearly defined. It's kind
of like pornography: You know it when you see it." Barton and Hastert
are expected, as early as next week, to successfully pass the bill in
the House without a network neutrality provision. A showdown is now
looming in the Senate Commerce Committee, which is about to take up
its own broadband Internet legislation. A bipartisan network
neutrality amendment, similar to what was just defeated in the House
committee, will be offered by Senators Olympia Snowe and Byron
Dorgan. Public-interest advocates and corporate allies plan to
mobilize an even larger outcry of support for this proposal.
With midterm elections looming, GOP leaders will come under
increasing pressure to make a choice. Will they continue to back
their few phone and cable industry supporters and keep the open
Internet safeguards off the table? Or will they recognize that a
genuine digital-age protest movement is emerging that could further
harm their party's chances in November? The next few weeks will
reveal whether the "smart mobs" can win over a tiny handful of
communications monopolists.
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