Waste deep and on the wrong side of history.
Broadband companies and
opportunistic Republican snake-oil purveyors are trying to turn the net neutrality debate into a political fight. The traditional media is
happy to play along (note the original title as included in the URL to this story: "Obama inflames divisive debate on net neutrality").
Depending on whom you listen to, the rules could unleash future innovation and create jobs—or stifle innovation and kill jobs. The divisive and often confusing debate has intensified now that Obama has entered the fray.
Who they listen to includes the bogus astroturf group, "Broadband for America," an organization that
has been caught in enormous fabrications about its members and its agenda.
But if you talk to real conservatives who are not owned and operated by Big Telecom, you find out that there's nothing controversial about protecting the internet. At all.
According to a poll released today by the Internet Freedom Business Alliance (IFBA), a pro-net neutrality association of businesses, Republicans and conservatives outside of Washington D.C., seem to think that the idea of net neutrality is actually a pretty good one.
Some 83 percent of voters who self-identified as “very conservative” were concerned about the possibility of ISPs having the power to “influence content” online. Only 17 percent reported being unconcerned. Similarly, 83 percent of self-identified conservatives thought that Congress should take action to ensure that cable companies do not “monopolize the Internet” or “reduce the inherent equality of the Internet” by charging some content companies for speedier access. […]
The poll also asked whether voters were concerned that big ISPs—like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T—could influence the government and elected officials in their favor; 72 percent of self-identified conservatives said yes.
Before President Obama was elected, the net neutrality coalition was pretty humungous, and extremely bipartisan, encompassing the
Christian Coalition,
Gun Owners of America and the Parents Television Council as well as, well, us. The fight for the internet then was the entire world against Big Telecom, regardless of political affiliation. That coalition might have broken down since Obama's election, but the people these groups supposedly represent sure haven't changed their minds.
They're undoubtedly counted in the millions who've called the FCC and the White House to demand that net neutrality be preserved. They, and we, have to keep calling. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler dug in in his response to President Obama's call Monday for full net neutrality, and he's now trying to delay the decision, giving ISPs more time to campaign against us.
Call the FCC. Tell them that you agree with President Obama that the FCC needs to pass strong net neutrality rules under Title II, and it should do so this year.