internet freedom

[dandelion meadow]

Hello,
This was sent to me by a friend. It isn't directly about the politics of food but could certainly affect us all. Wanted to share the info with you. I had heard about this on the morning news, NPR radio, and found it astounding, yet, ironically, predictable.

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Subject: Congress is selling out the Internet

Hi,
Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an
iPod? Everything we do online will be hurt if Congress
passes a radical law next week that gives giant
corporations more control over what we do and see on
the Internet.

Internet providers like AT&T are lobbying Congress
hard to gut Network Neutrality--the Internet's First
Amendment and the key to Internet freedom. Net
Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites
open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T
more. BarnesandNoble.com doesn't have to outbid Amazon
for the right to work properly on your computer.

If Net Neutrality is gutted, many sites--including
Google, eBay, and iTunes--must either pay protection
money to companies like AT&T or risk having their
websites process slowly. That why these high-tech
pioneers, plus diverse groups ranging from MoveOn to
Gun Owners of America, are opposing Congress' effort
to gut Internet freedom.

You can do your part today--can you sign this petition
telling your member of Congress to preserve Internet
freedom? Click here:


http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C7043445-PnLDmH3s5AVSLvY1GxMB9A

This petiton will be delivered to Congress before
the House of Representatives votes next week. When you
sign, you'll be kept informed of the next steps we can
take to keep the heat on Congress.

Snopes.com, which monitors various causes that
circulate on the Internet, explained:

Simply put, network neutrality means that no web
site's traffic has precedence over any
other's...Whether a user searches for recipes using
Google, reads an article on snopes.com, or looks at a
friend's MySpace profile, all of that data is treated
equally and delivered from the originating web site to
the user's web browser with the same priority. In
recent months, however, some of the telephone and
cable companies that control the telecommunications
networks over which Internet data flows have floated
the idea of creating the electronic equivalent of a
paid carpool lane.

If companies like AT&T have their way, Web sites
ranging from Google to eBay to iTunes either pay
protection money to get into the "fast lane" or risk
opening slowly on your computer. We can't let the
Internet--this incredible medium which has been such a
revolutionary force for democratic participation,
economic innovation, and free speech--become captive
to large corporations.

Politicians don't think we are paying attention to
this issue. Together, we do care about preserving the
free and open Internet.

Please sign this petition letting your member of
Congress know you support preserving Internet freedom.
Click here:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet?track_referer=706%7C7043445-PnLDmH3s5AVSLvY1GxMB9A

Thanks

[mrtomatoexpres]

thanks dandelion. i think they see everything we do on the internet. iam going to check it out. :)

[HOD]

I was going to make a long post explaining "common carrier" network traffic filtering, blah blah blah... But even my eyes started to glaze over.

Summary. The current laws are a giant stinking cesspool of confusion.

(Hey what do you expect from brain damaged lawyers in D.C.)

Old laws needs to be cleaned out, new implemented, and there is little in the way of fairness, or protection for end users, network owners, etc. but if you open that can of worms, you stand as much chance of ending up worse off than better off...

HOD.