Here's what you can do right now without reading anything more:
• Tell the FCC not to let Comcast, Verizon and AT&T control the future of your Internet
It's The End Of The World As We Know It
To millions of people today, “the Internet” is “the World,” so it may very well be “The End Of The World As We Know It.” With the constant barrage of regulatory scope creep; incessant lobbying on behalf of companies' bottom line profits; free speech-killing special interest pirates; mass surveillance programs aimed at silencing the majority; bought-and-paid-for mainstream propaganda media machines; and of course, the multitude of not-so-conspiracy theory world takeover schemes, the chosen battlefield is the connection that you are on right now, also known as the the Internet.
“It's too bad, because I rather like being the talk of the town, the place where everyone meets, the highway everyone uses to connect with one another, and the bread and butter of millions of aspiring change agents, companies, countries, and every day heroes," says the Voice of the Internet.
"Although it's been a nice ride so far, I can't say that I haven't been met with some amount of controversial discourse. After all, some countries have gone so far to have tried to turn me off, proxy me, filter me, censor me, and flat out lie to people about how evil I can be. Although there are a few out their who have had their way with me, I am a tricky little bastard. Thanks to some of my most die hard fans, we have networks like Tor that can trick even the trickiest of tricksters, systems like Wikileaks that can out-leak the leak detectors, platforms like Twitter that go above and beyond the enable me, and of course, the good old fashion judicial system that can be overturned with just a click of a button on one of my pages, a few thousand or million times.
"The fact is, I'm not the least bit intimidated by Net Neutrality.”
Zero Quid Pro Quo
The Internet is neutral. It does not form, take, or design sides. The Internet does not care what you do with it or for what reasons. Its architect is you. If you choose to catch a predator, sell a drug, save a life, prove a crime, tell a story, sell an idea, cheat a neighbor, lie to your spouse, cause harm, heal hearts, or change the direction of public opinion, the Internet is at your service, often and free.
Think of the Internet as the loudest, most connected communications platform on the planet; you must only respect it for what it can accomplish at your request. Even the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, in 2005, agreed to encourage broadband deployment to preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet. The FCC also established that consumers are entitled to choice and neutrality.
That was almost 10 years ago, and now a few conspirators have met behind closed doors to rewrite what has already been written, saying that certain consumers of services on the Internet can be charged more than others, made to pay for priority, or blocked all together if the service provider deems it fit. As they say in politics, nobody does something for nothing: there's always a quid pro quo. But alas, this is not politics: this is the open culture of the Internet, where anyone can define anything and build support for it.
Luckily, the Internet has some very good friends like Chris Riley at Mozilla who recently stated that, “We are asking the FCC to modernize its understanding of Internet access services, and apply its statutory authority for Internet data delivery services in a consistent and complete way.” He went on to say that, “With our proposal, the FCC would be able to shift its attention away from authority questions once and for all, and focus instead on adopting clear rules prohibiting blocking and discrimination online.” Click here to read the full proposal from Mozilla to the FCC.
A Popular Resistance
If you think that only a few geeks and techies are battling this out for you, you are wrong. Millions of people are taking to the streets, phones, chat rooms and email to gain consensus – and it's working. The FCC’s eighth floor executive office has been thrown into chaosamid a mounting backlash that shut down its phone lines, as a growing number of Open Internet advocates continue to camp out in front of its office.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is now scrambling to change his “Open Internet” proposal after a torrent of criticism from Internet giants, startups, venture capitalists, public interest groups and consumers, led by Engine.
Not Taking Action Leads to First Amendment Atrophy
Let me get to the point: the Internet Is Yours. If you do not stand up to be counted, you will lose the Internet as you have come to know it. Your company's website, service or freedom of speech may very well be limited, or even cut off. Access to the most basic services, which you surely take for granted right now, can become more difficult to get to or eliminated altogether in favor of bigger, higher paying cronies of your Internet service provider (ISP), affecting you at home, at work and on the go with your mobile device.
The takeaway is this: if you are interested in continuing to exercise your freedom of speech, press, information and expression, the new FCC plans to kill net neutrality mean you can pretty much kiss that Internet goodbye – and start storing tin cans for your new method of staying in touch with close friends.
Save The Internet
Ready to get engaged and do your part TODAY to preserve our information and communication lifeline? Here's where you can go:
For starters, look up “Net Neutrality” if you want to become more informed. Media outlets from CNN, Time, Slate, the Guardian, the New York Times, and many more are writing pieces to inform the public about this critical issue.
Then, make your voice heard by clicking through on the following sites:
Save The Internet Here
Save It Even More Here
Occupy The FCC Here
Reset The Net Here
Tell the FCC not to let Comcast, Verizon and AT&T control the future of the Internet Here
Sign this White House Petition Here
Sign the Change.org petition by the Student Net Alliance Here
Sign the petition by the ACLU Here
Sign the petition at Daily KOS Here
Call the FCC Here
Call Congress Here
Send FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler an email Here
Tweet to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Here
3 WAYS TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
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