I don't think the proponents of this internet privatization scheme have a clue how massive the opposition can be. But we do. Below, some suggestions on how we can use the viral nature of the net to rain down thunder on this anti-freedom cash grab.
How many people do you know that run their own little special interest website? Maybe it's a home-based business, maybe it's a hobby site, a sports board, a website for their music or their poetry or their art? Break out of the political box, this affects every internet user.
Have you emailed them the petition link yet?
My friends, there are millions of people with their own little websites today. Millions. A lot of them have email lists associated with their site that their regular users have signed up for. Encourage your friends with websites and email lists to forward the petition link to their email lists?
Here's some quick talking points off the top of my head:
1) If this goes through, your website is useless. It's going to get pushed into the breakdown lane of the information highway.
2) We're used to paying for our own ISPs, and for our webhosts. But if this goes through, every website operator will be hit up by dozens of the big ISPs demading fees in order to get your site to their subscribers. No hobbyist, no fan, and very few home-based businesses are going to be able to pay that freight. Will you be able to?
3) It's all about the greed. We pay good money for our net service just exactly so we can visit the sites we want--not the sites some big telecom corporation wants us to go to. We pay good money to our webhosts, so that we can get our sites out where people that share our interests can find us and visit our sites.
Tell them to sign the petition and pass the link on, to their site email lists, and to their other friends with websites, too. To the other people they know with the same hobby or special interest. Because if this bill goes through, the internet as we know it is finished, a golden age comes to a crashing end. Remind them that they are not alone, that there are millions of other internet users and site operators that can be rallied together to save all our sites. And tell them that we need to act TODAY.
Don't forget message boards. Besides all the personal sites, most hobby and interest groups have message boards that are a critical part of each online community. Get the petition link up onto the message boards where you're a part of the community, where your handle means something. Tell your friends to do the same.
Tonight I sent out 30 emails. I already heard back from a couple of site operating friends, including one with an email list of 80 other people that all have their own websites, and he's forwarding my email to them.
We can do this. We can stop this travesty. All we need to do is get the ball rolling.
Save the Internet! petition
for more info: Save the Internet Coalition