There’s a debate going on in Congress now, a debate over whether ISPs should be allowed to determine which content users can access. Already signs of the future are emerging, with some ISPs announcing plans to degrade or block access to competing content. Even fierce competitors in both business (e.g. Microsoft and Google) and politics (Christian Coalition, MoveOn.org) both agree that this is a clear threat to the Internet, and must be stopped.

I’m asking everyone to take a few minutes to call your representative in Congress (202.224.3121) and voice your support for Net Neutrality, especially the Markey Amendment. You can also read Google’s request for help, an op-ed in the Washington Post, or click the image for more ways to help.

The protections that guaranteed network neutrality have been law since the birth of the Internet — right up until last year, when the Federal Communications Commission eliminated the rules that kept cable and phone companies from discriminating against content providers. This triggered a wave of announcements from phone company chief executives that they plan to do exactly that.
– Lawrence Lessig
Stanford Law School

 

The neutral communications medium is essential to our society. It is the basis of a fair competitive market economy. It is the basis of democracy, by which a community should decide what to do. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true. Let us protect the neutrality of the net.”
– Tim Berners-Lee
Inventor of the World Wide Web