Sen. Franken: Stop the corporate takeover of the media

At Netroots Nation Saturday night, Sen. Al Franken devoted his keynote address, the final one of the convention, to the issue that is the single most critical one for the netroots: the corporate takeover of free speech and preserving net neutrality.

It used to be that really on the government could threaten your first amendment rights. Now corporations, with government permission, pose the greatest threat to your first amendment rights, and tonight I want to tell you that I believe that net neutrality is the first amendment issue of our time.

If Comcast merges with NBC, how long do you think it will take for Verizon and AT&T to start looking at CBS/Viacom and ABC/Disney?

If no one stops them, how long do you think it will take before four or five mega-corporations effectively control the flow of information in America, not only on television but online. If we don't protect net neutrality now, how long do you think it will take before Comcast/NBC Universal, or Verizon/CBS Viacom, or AT&T/ABC/DirectTV, or BP/Halliburton/WalMart/Fox/Dominoes Pizza to start favoring its content over everyone else's? How long do you think it will take before the Fox News Web site loads five times faster than Daily Kos?

And it's not just about politics. After all, the Internet is more than just the foundation of the community we progressives have built. It's an incredible source of innovation, a hotbed of creativity and and unbelievable producer of jobs and wealth. Its value comes from the fact that it's open to everyone.

The Comcast/NBC merger is the first domino. If it falls, the rest will soon follow. It's almost too late to stop this from happening but not quite. The government has a role to play here. The government can pass rules to protect net neutrality. The government can stop mergers like NBC/Comcast or at least put strict, rigorous conditions on them. But first the government has to be made to act. And I can tell you first hand that the government--the White House, the FCC, my fellow members of Congress--is hearing plenty from the corporations on the other side of these issues and not nearly enough from you.

If you want to protect the free flow of information in this country and all that depends on it, you have to help me fight this. Help me fight this.

Here's how: go here and tell the FCC and the Congress to support net neutrality. Tell all your friends and family to do the same. Tell them Al Franken sent you.