Protect net neutrality

[Edward theurj Berge]

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Tell the FCC: Protect the open Internet!

BREAKING: The New York Times just reported that Comcast will block Netflix unless a new fee is paid to Comcast -- so Netflix's price goes up and people use Comcast's video service
instead.

This outrageous abuse of power by Comcast comes on the very week that President Obama's FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will announce whether he'll fulfill Obama's promise to protect the open Internet and Net Neutrality -- which
would prevent this type of corporate abuse.

The FCC needs to hear from us now, before the chairman's big announcement this week.

Sign our message to the FCC: "Don't let Comcast block Netflix or other online innovators for th...

Then, please tell your friends. We'll deliver thousands of messages to the FCC this week. Sign here.

What else could Comcast do if the FCC doesn't protect Net Neutrality?

Internet providers like Comcast can drive their financial competitors (or political opponents) out of business by charging them more, for no good reason --
exactly what's happening right now.

For instance, Comcast could block or degrade iTunes, which competes with Comcast's own online music store.

Worse, the FCC will soon decide whether to allow Comcast to buy NBC! Can you imagine what Comcast will do to block customers from getting video from ABC, CBS, and other media outlets? This is way more serious than just movies
-- the FCC's decision impacts pretty much everything.

Tell the FCC to stop Comcast's abuse of power and protect the open ...

Thanks for being a bold progressive,

Jason Rosenbaum, Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Forrest Brown, and the PCCC team

P.S. You can read excerpts from the New York Times story on the petition page.

[Edward theurj Berge]

Obama FCC Caves on Net Neutrality -- Tuesday Betrayal Assured

Timothy Karr

Campaign Director, Free Press and SavetheInternet.com

Posted: December 20, 2010 06:53 PM

Late Monday, a majority of the FCC's commissioners indicated that they're going to vote with Chairman Julius Genachowski for a toothless Net Neutrality rule.

According to all reports, the rule, which will be voted on during tomorrow's FCC meeting, falls drastically short of earlier pledges by President Obama and the FCC Chairman to protect the free and open Internet.

The rule is so riddled with loopholes that it's become clear that this FCC chairman crafted it with the sole purpose of winning the endorsement of AT&T and cable lobbyists, and not defending the interests of the tens of millions of Internet users.

Welcome to AT&T's Internet

For the first time in history of telecommunications law the FCC has given its stamp of approval to online discrimination.

Instead of a rule to protect Internet users' freedom to choose, the Commission has opened the door for broadband payola - letting phone and cable companies charge steep tolls to favor the content and services of a select group of corporate partners, relegating everyone else to the cyber-equivalent of a winding dirt road.

Instead of protecting openness on wireless Internet devices like the iPhone and Droid, the Commission has exempted the mobile Internet from Net Neutrality protections. This move enshrines Verizon and AT&T as gatekeepers to the expanding world of mobile Internet access, allowing them to favor their own applications while blocking, degrading or de-prioritizing others.

Instead of re-establishing the FCC's authority to act as a consumer watchdog over the Internet, it places the agency's authority on a shaky and indefensible legal footing -- giving ultimate control over the Internet to a small handful of carriers.

Obama's 'Mission Accomplished'

Internet users deserve far better, and we thought we were going to get it from a president who promised to "take a backseat to no one in my commitment to Net Neutrality." Watch now as he and his FCC chairman try to spin tomorrow's betrayal as another "mission accomplished."

Don't believe it. This bogus victory has become all too familiar to those watching the Obama administration and its appointees squander opportunities for real change. The reality is that reform is just a rhetorical front for industry compromises that reward the biggest players and K-Street lobbyists while giving the public nothing.

It's not the FCC chairman's job to seek consensus among the corporations that he was put into office to regulate. His duty is to protect Internet users.

More than two million people have taken action on behalf of Net Neutrality. Tomorrow, we'll all get the carpet yanked from beneath our feet.

Net Neutrality is the freedom of speech, freedom of choice issue of the 21st century. It's the guarantee of a more open and democratic media system that was baked into the Internet at its founding.

On Tuesday, Obama's FCC is going to sell that out.

[e]

Tim Wu interview

 

 

[Edward theurj Berge]

Yes, he has no qualms with, and actually supports, companies like Apple gaining market share by creating innovative products. But then they enter the monopolistic stage of captialism where they want to destroy the competition. And also by controlling what information is transferred through their products, "pre-digested snippets" conducive to their market share. Microsoft went this route and faced an anti-trust suit. And now Apple? And even Google in its deal with Verizon to provide slower access to the competition?