The free and democratic nature of the internet is under attack by big telecom companies who want to wring more profits out of it. Two days ago, the Senate held a
hearing on whether service providers should be allowed to restrict people's choice of internet content. Congress will be deciding how to treat this issue later this year in the course of telecom reform.
I don't usually post about the campaigns of individual nonprofits on this site, but I thought you might like to know about what one organization is doing to fight back, and how you can help. The organization, Common Cause, is one I respect and feel does good work.
First, why is this important? As the
Nation's report covering the hearing explains:
In an argument that some senators seemed to have difficulty following, Cerf, Stanford Law School professor and open-access guru Lawrence Lessig, and Vonage head Jeffrey Citron argued that one could not assume the continued existence of the freewheeling Internet that fosters innovation. That is because the FCC changed the rules, upending a forty-year commitment to open access and nondiscrimination. That decades-old commitment made it possible for "innovation without permission" and the development of the World Wide Web, Yahoo, Google and Amazon, Cerf said.
Those policies were altered in 2002, noted Lessig, when the FCC changed how it would regulate Internet service providers. Companies that built and maintained the Internet pipes had been regulated like telephone companies, and they were not permitted to discriminate among content providers or Internet applications.
Under the FCC's current regulatory regime, these old constraints are gone. That leaves the door open for companies like Verizon and AT&T to drastically change the rules, hogging bandwidth for their own products, like the films and games they'd like to sell to subscribers, and charging other content providers a premium for quality access to their customers, leaving little space for other content and applications. "The only companies that could afford to buy access to the fast lanes on the Internet...are companies that already have succeeded in the marketplace," Lessig said. "The next generation of Yahoos and Googles...would face barriers to entry."
We can't let industry lobbyists be the only ones to frame this debate. Common Cause is currently trying to fund some reports of their own representing the public's point of view. Rather than try to summarize the email they sent me today, here it is in its entirety:
Dear [omitted],
Telecom industry executives appeared before the US Senate Commerce Committee this week and pledged to never, ever violate the long-standing principle protecting your right to use the Internet without restrictions or limitations imposed by your Internet provider. This principle - called "net neutrality" - is the driving force behind the innovative nature of Internet.
We heard a lot of promises from the telecom industry execs at the hearing, but we need to take a closer look at what's really behind those promises.
With your support we will produce three investigative reports that will go behind the scenes to see what telecom companies are doing to persuade Congress to let them undermine the democratic culture of the Internet.
We can do these reports for about $7,000 each - so we're setting a goal of $21,000. Please help us reach that goal.
http://www.commoncause.org/...
The investigative reports will focus on:
1. Money in Politics: Since the '96 Telecom Act, powerful media and telecom companies have spent millions on campaign contributions and lobbying in Washington. We'll tell you who's giving, who's getting, and what's behind all that money.
2. Ad Watch: The cable and telephone companies and their trade associations are beginning to run misleading TV ads in the Washington, DC, area and around the country calling for policies that they claim will "spur innovation." We'll debunk their ads, and let you know what they're really up to on Capitol Hill.
3. Astroturf: Telephone and cable companies are setting up fake grassroots organizations (which we like to call "astroturf") - to try to persuade members of Congress that they have citizen support. Common Cause understands the value of true grassroots advocacy, and we're working to expose the groups that are all about money, not real citizen activism.
Some Internet providers have already blocked their customers from accessing competitors' services. And the biggest telecom giants - AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, BellSouth - have announced schemes2 to create a "tiered" Internet in which many websites would be relegated to second-class status at significantly slower speeds.
Common Cause needs your help to keep the Internet fair and open for everyone!
http://www.commoncause.org/...
We're pushing for a strong net neutrality provision when Congress takes up telecom reform this year, and we need to shine a light on the lies and half-truths of the media giants.
http://www.commoncause.org/...
Thank you for all you do for Common Cause.
Sincerely,
The Common Cause Media Reform Team
Celia Wexler, Lauren Coletta, and Dawn Holian
I encourage you to contribute if you feel what they're doing is important and can spare the cash.