Net Neutrality's Quiet Crusader

There's an article in the Washington Post about Free Press' Ben Scott. Scott is described as "a driving force for 'net neutrality,' a concept that in policy terms has come to mean enforcement of open access online, so cable and telecom operators cannot block or delay content that travels over their networks." Free Press sent out a newsletter yesterday to let people know about the article, and also to tell us how hard it is for an organization that fights for our rights against corporate media, to get this kind of exposure on the front page of the business section of the Washington Post.

So check it out and learn something about the unlikely people who fight to keep the internet open and accessible to everyone equally. And who also fight against media consolidation that squeezes out diversity and competition, so that individuals, small organizations and small companies have access to media that is not filtered or censored by large corporations. The video gives a pretty good synopsis of why net neutrality is important. Monopolistic phone companies, without regulation, would have prevented the internet from happening. If they weren't regulated after the internet started, companies like Google, Facebook and Myspace would never have gotten off the ground. Now we need to continue those protections to make it possible for the next Google or Myspace to develop. Giant corporations like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon, stifle innovation and competition that benefits all of us, in order to keep more profit for themselves.

OK GO for Net Neutrality

From savetheinternet.org:

This week, Internet rock band OK Go came to Washington to urge Congress to act against all companies that seek to become the Internet’s gatekeepers. Phone and cable companies can try, but they can't shut us out or shut us up. They've shown us why we need Net Neutrality....

Phone and cable companies will try anything to kill Net Neutrality. The best way we can fight back is to restore Net Neutrality as the law of the land. The bipartisan Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008 (HR 5353) does just that.

Read More about OK Go's Support for this Bill

This bill guarantees Net Neutrality by restoring it in the foundation of communications law. It also promises that the public -- not phone and cable companies -- will control the fate of the Internet.

Thanks for your support,
Timothy Karr
Campaign Director
www.freepress.net
SavetheInternet.com