posted
Congress Is Giving Away the Internet, and You Won't Like Who Gets It Art Brodsky / TruthOut / Saturday 22 April 2006
Congress is going to hand the operation of the Internet over to AT&T, Verizon and Comcast. Democrats are helping. It's a shame.
Don't look now, but the House Commerce Committee next Wednesday is likely to vote to turn control of the Internet over to AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and what's left of the telecommunications industry. It will be one of those stories the MSM writes about as "little noticed" because they haven't covered it.
On the surface, it may seem a stretch to think that those companies could control the great, wide, infinite Internet. After all, the incredible diversity of the Net allowed everything Web sites and services of all kinds to exist in perfect harmony. What's more, they were all delivered to your screen without any interference by the companies that carried the bits to and fro. Until recently, they had to. It was the law. The telephone companies, which carried all of the Web traffic until relatively recently, had to treat all of their calls alike without giving any Web site or service favored treatment over another.
The result was today's Internet, which developed as a result of billions of dollars of investments, from the largest Internet company that spent millions on software and networking, to the one person with a blog who spent a few hundred dollars on a laptop. The Internet grew into a universal public resource because the telephone and cable companies simply transported the bits.
Last fall, however, the Federal Communications Commission, backed by the U.S. Supreme Court, decided that the high-speed Internet services offered by the cable and telephone companies didn't fall under that law, the Communications Act. Out the window went the law that treated everyone equally. Now, with broadband, we are in a new game without rules.
Telephone and cable companies own 98% of the high-speed broadband networks the public uses to go online for reading news, shopping, listening to music, posting videos or any of the thousands of other uses developed for the Internet. But that isn't enough. They want to control what you read, see or hear online. The companies say that they will create premium lanes on the Internet for higher fees, and give preferential access to their own services and those who can afford extra charges. The rest of us will be left to use an inferior version of the Internet.
Admittedly, it hasn't become a problem yet. But to think it won't become one is to ignore 100 years of history of anti-competitive behavior by the phone companies. And it was a mere six weeks or so from the time the FCC issued its ill-fated decision to the time when Ed Whitacre, the CEO of (then-SBC) now AT&T issued his famous manifesto attacking Google and other Web sites for "using my pipes (for) free." They don't, by the way.
Here's the inside baseball: A couple of weeks ago, a courageous band of legislators tried to stop the madness in Subcommittee. Ed Markey, Rick Boucher, Anna Eshoo and Jay Inslee proposed some good language to protect the Internet. For their troubles, they just got four more votes, other than theirs. Just three Democrats, other than the sponsors, voted for it. Only one Republican voted for it. When we talk about special interest giveaways, this one will be at the top of the list. And we won't have only Republicans to blame.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
Well, if the vote is this week, probably can't do anything but email your congress people.
Says there is no immediate threat. Guess we have to learn everything the hard way. Like deregulation causes huge price increases in utility prices. I guess competition and the free market approach don't solve every problem.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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treepatrol
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
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They better talk to Al Gore he invented it
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It's tragic! The beginning of the end of the last bastion of freedom in amerika... But maybe, just maybe, these jokers will push things too far. At some point, I certainly hope, "we, the people" will put our collective feet down and say no to corporate control. It OUGHTA be happening already, but I guess all the potential challengers are a little too comfortable; the slick control freaks have made sure of that... With complete takeover of the net, though, I'm not sure they can manage to keep their slickness intact! I think they'll be in fior a rude surprise. DaveS...
Posts: 4567 | From ithaca, NY, usa | Registered: Nov 2000
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Perhaps they don't understand how valuable the current net is to them, you know, as kind of a placebo.... If the net had existed when nixon was groping for power, maybe it'd be all over by now. M.A.D.'d, if you know what I mean.! DaveS... [/QB][/QUOTE]
Posts: 4567 | From ithaca, NY, usa | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Good point, dave. I sometimes think that talking about things, typing in complaints on the net forums, is a substitute for actually doing something.
Of course, some might say it helps people find others and maybe organize some useful actions.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
America's founders would have demanded the internet remain completely free, with no special priveledges or censorship exercised by anyone!
Recall those founders original response to attempted corporate control- THE BOSTON TEA PARTY!
("terrorism", the power-mongers hissed, no doubt, though perhaps back then I suspect the word they used was "hooliganism."...)
We STILL hold these truths to be self-evident, that ..... ....! (in spite of the views and aspiratuons of some of the corporate stooges running the show nowadays! (even though they weren't elected by the American people!!!) DaveS
Posts: 4567 | From ithaca, NY, usa | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
HCD wrote: Recall those founders original response to attempted corporate control- THE BOSTON TEA PARTY! ********************
Well, the King of England wasn't incorporated, more like imperial control--lol
I think the founding fathers would be in utter shock with what we all deal with on a daily basis (telephones, cars, planes)....but I agree it should be free as it has been. So then, the question is....do we throw the computers in the muddy waters or pay?
The computers belong to us, I believe the tea belonged to the King?
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eventually, this might give rise to a new internet, and www that will operate over a fraction of household current, but this would not make it international in scope, because no electrical lines that i know of are strung across the bottoms of oceans. well, this would be a start, anyway. anyone got a $100mln in pocket change to get this off the ground? Posts: 2708 | Registered: Feb 2005
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danq
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Ahh, but it's not too late - but this may be strange company for a few of you old Lymies - hi gang!
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