Net Neutrality
More than any other issue, Net Neutrality, to me is one of the most important. Some of you may have recently heard of what Senator Boxer of California has had to say to the FCC about their failure to act on an important study about local radio and television programming. In responce, Kevin J Martin, the Commision Chairman has made the working paper public. You can find Senator Boxer confronting the Commission on YouTube. As I mentioned in another post Net Neutrality is a complex issue to articulate. There is another video on YouTube from Senator Kennedy that that provides some insight into the principal of Net Neutrality and a more broad approach to maximizing the use of the Internet to advance democracy. I tend to single out the FCC as being the most important agency affecting future use of the Internet however the FEC may also have a significant impact on it’s use. At any rate, regulation of all forms of public communications media seem to be an important issue in our present and future discourse. No doubt I’ll be back soon with more interesting developments and I’ll try to dig up information that is more pertinent to us right here in Hawaii.
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there is little doubt in my mind of the importance of net neutrality. the basics underlying this issue/principle are pretty simple: net neutrality is what keeps the internet free and fair and open to a seeming infinite range of ideas and opinions. the internet is the last source of free flowing information and bastion of open dialogue in the world. of course, there are those people who clearly think this is a bad thing and want to do away with this concept, namely some members of congress and US telecommunications corporations.
this ‘anti-neutrality’ group like the idea of charging for perferential treatment on the information superhighway. those people/companies that agree to pay this extra fee, get to travel in the express lane, so to speak. those sites, those businesses, new channels, etc. who pay this will will be given peferential treatment out on the internet. theirs will be the site more likely to show up in searches and more likely visted. their names and address will be put on a VIP list, while the rest of us get to stand out in the street, waiting for out turn. if this isn’t an example of the government trying to control the free flow of information, then i don’t know what is.
call your family. tell your friends. contact your representative and tell them to stand firm and support net neutrality….
by they way, senator akaka is a supporter of net neutrality and will work to keep it alive!
Comment by frosty — September 18, 2006 @ 5:59 pm