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Has anyone heard about this? Anyone know if it's serious or not?

Dave

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org Civic Action" 
>  
> Date: April 20, 2006 5:57:58 PM EDT
> To: "Dave Morris"  
> Subject: Congress is selling out the Internet
>
> Google, Amazon, MoveOn.=A0All these entities are fighting back as 
> Congress tries to pass a law=A0giving a few corporations=A0the power	
> to=A0end the free and open=A0Internet as we know it.
>
> Tell Congress to=A0preserve the free and open Internet today.
>
> =A0 
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>
> Click Here
>
> Dear MoveOn member,
>
>  Do you buy books online,=A0use Google, or download to an Ipod?=A0These  
> activities, plus MoveOn's online organizing ability, will be=A0hurt if  
> Congress=A0passes a radical law that=A0gives giant corporations more	 
> control over the Internet.
>
> Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard	
> to=A0gut Network Neutrality, the=A0Internet's First Amendment.=A0Net	 
> Neutrality prevents AT&T from=A0choosing which websites open most easily   
> for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon doesn't have to  
> outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your  
> computer.
>
> If Net Neutrality is gutted,=A0MoveOn either pays protection money to   
> dominant Internet providers=A0or risks that online activism tools don 't  
> work for members. Amazon and Google either pay=A0protection  
> money=A0or=A0risk that their websites process slowly on your computer.  
> That why these=A0high-tech pioneers=A0are joining the fight to protect  
> Network Neutrality1 and you can do your part today.=A0
>
> The free and open Internet is=A0under seige can you sign this petition   
> letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network	
> Neutrality? Click here:
>
> http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=3D7356-347076- 
> an8SbRs70xz4702MtS41Ug&t=3D4
>
> Then, please forward this to=A03 friends. Protecting the free and open  
> Internet=A0is fundamental it affects everything. When you sign this	
> petition, you'll be kept informed of=A0the next steps=A0we can take	
> to=A0keep the heat on Congress. Votes begin in a House committee next   
> week.
>
> MoveOn has=A0already seen=A0what happens when=A0the Internet's gatekeepers   
> get too much control.=A0Just last week, AOL blocked any email  
> mentioning=A0a coalition that MoveOn is a part of,=A0which opposes AOL 's  
> proposed "email tax."2=A0And last year,=A0Canada's version of  
> AT&T Telus blocked their Internet customers from visiting=A0a website   
> sympathetic to=A0workers with whom Telus was negotiating.3
>
>  Politicians=A0don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Many  
> of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the  
> verge of selling out to people like=A0AT&T's CEO, who=A0openly says,	"The  
> internet can't be free."4
>
> Together, we can let Congress know we are paying attention. We can  
> make sure they=A0listen to our voices and the voices of people like Vint   
> Cerf, a father of the Internet and=A0Google's "Chief Internet  
> Evangelist," who recently wrote this to Congress in support of  
> preserving Network Neutrality:
>>> My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to the   
>>> Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly permits  
>>> network operators to discriminate in favor of certain kinds of  
>>> services and to potentially interfere with others would place  
>>> broadband operators in control of online activity...Telephone  
>>> companies cannot tell consumers who they can call; network operators  
>>> should not dictate what people can do online.4=A0
> The essence of the Internet is at risk can you sign this petition   
> letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network	
> Neutrality? Click here:
>
> http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=3D7356-347076- 
> an8SbRs70xz4702MtS41Ug&t=3D5
>
> Please forward to 3 others who care about this=A0issue. Thanks for all  
> you do.
>
>  Eli Pariser, Adam Green, Noah T. Winer,=A0and the MoveOn.org Civic	
> Action team=A0
>  =A0=A0Thursday, April 20th, 2006
>  P.S.=A0 If Congress abandons Network Neutrality,=A0who will be affected ?
>		Advocacy groups=A0like MoveOn Political organizing could  be
slowed	
> by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to  
> pay "protection money"=A0for their websites and online features to work   
> correctly.
>		Nonprofits A charity's website could open at snail -speed, and 

> online contributions could grind to a halt, if=A0nonprofits=A0can't pay   
> dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet   
> service.
>		Google users Another search engine could pay dominant Internet 
 
> providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens  
> faster than Google on your computer.=A0
>		Innovators=A0with the "next big idea" Startups and
entrepreneurs	
> will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay	
> Internet providers for=A0dominant placing=A0on the Web. The little guy  
> will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable  
> to compete.
>		Ipod listeners A company like Comcast could slow access  to
iTunes,  
> steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.=A0
>		Online purchasers Companies could pay Internet providers  to  
> guarantee=A0their online sales=A0process=A0faster than competitors  
> with=A0lower prices distorting your choice as a consumer.
>		Small businesses and tele-commuters When Internet companies 
like  
> AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more  
> affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing,=A0Internet	
> phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your  
> office.
>		Parents and retirees Your choices as a consumer could be   
> controlled by your Internet=A0provider, steering you to their =A0preferred  
> services for online banking, health care information, sending photos,   
> planning vacations, etc.
>		Bloggers Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and 
audio  
> clips silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the   
> hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.To sign=A0the petition to  
> Congress supporting "network neutrality," click here:
>> http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=3D7356-347076- 
>> an8SbRs70xz4702MtS41Ug&t=3D6
> P.P.S. This excerpt from=A0the New Yorker really sums up this issue well .
>>> In the first decades of the twentieth century, as a national  
>>> telephone network spread across the United States, A.T. & T. adopted  
>>> a policy of "tiered access" for businesses. Companies that paid an	 
>>> extra fee got better service: their customers' calls went through	
>>> immediately, were rarely disconnected, and sounded crystal-clear.	
>>> Those who didn't pony up had a harder time making calls out, and  
>>> people calling them sometimes got an "all circuits busy" response.	 
>>> Over time, customers gravitated toward the higher-tier companies and  
>>> away from the ones that were more difficult to reach. In effect,  
>>> A.T. & T.'s policy turned it into a corporate kingmaker.
>>>
>>> If you've never heard about this bit of business history, there's a   
>>> good reason: it never happened. Instead, A.T. & T. had to abide by a  
>>> "common carriage" rule: it provided the same quality of service to	 
>>> all, and could not favor one customer over another. But, while  
>>> "tiered access" never influenced the spread of the telephone  
>>> network, it is becoming a major issue in the evolution of the  
>>> Internet.
>>>
>>> Until recently, companies that provided Internet access followed a	 
>>> de-facto commoncarriage rule, usually called "network neutrality,"	 
>>> which meant that all Web sites got equal treatment. Network  
>>> neutrality was considered so fundamental to the success of the Net	 
>>> that Michael Powell, when he was chairman of the F.C.C., described	 
>>> it as one of the basic rules of "Internet freedom." In the past few   
>>> months, though, companies like A.T. & T. and BellSouth have been  
>>> trying to scuttle it. In the future, Web sites that pay extra to  
>>> providers could receive what BellSouth recently called "special  
>>> treatment," and those that don't could end up in the slow lane. One   
>>> day, BellSouth customers may find that, say, NBC.com loads a lot  
>>> faster than YouTube.com, and that the sites BellSouth favors just	
>>> seem to run more smoothly. Tiered access will turn the providers  
>>> into Internet gatekeepers.4
> Sources:
>
> 1. "Telecommunication Policy Proposed by Congress Must Recognize  
> Internet Neutrality," Letter to Senate leaders, March 23, 2006
> http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3D1653
>
>  2. "AOL Blocks Critics' E-Mails," Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2006
> http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3D1649
>
> 3. "B.C. Civil Liberties Association Denounces Blocking of Website by   
> Telus," British Columbia Civil Liberties Association Statement, July	 
> 27, 2005
> http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3D1650
>
>  4. "At SBC, It's All About 'Scale and Scope," BusinessWeek, November   
> 7, 2002
> http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3D1648
>
> 5. "Net Losses," New Yorker, March 20, 2006
> http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3D1646
>
> 6. "Don't undercut Internet access," San Francisco Chronicle	
> editorial, April 17, 2006
> http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3D1645
>
>
> Subscription Management:
>  This is a message from MoveOn.org Civic Action. To change your email   
> address, update your contact info, or remove yourself (Dave Morris)	
> from this list, please visit our subscription management page at:
> http://moveon.org/s?i=3D7356-347076-an8SbRs70xz4702MtS41Ug  
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>
David P. Morris, PhD
Senior Engineer, ElectroDynamic Applications, Inc.
morris Æ edapplications.com, (734)=A0786-1434, fax: (734)=A0786-3235

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