What do Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Amazon, EBAY, the Christian Coalition, and the AARP all share in common? These companies and organizations have joined an alliance to oppose legislation moving through Congress proposed by telephone and cable companies that would create a tiered bandwidth structure for the Internet.
The issue has been given a name, Net Neutrality, and its outcome will affect everyone who uses the Internet to access information or to serve Web content.
The legislation would give telecom and cable companies the right to set up fast and slow lanes on the Internet. Businesses and organizations who do not pay a premium for access to the fast lane to serve their Web content will be relegated to the slow lane. The result, according to opponents of the legislation, would be that many voices on the Web will be stifled and many small smart start-up companies would have their abilility to compete on the Web compromised. The telecom and cable companies, on the other hand, argue that setting up a fast lane will promote the introduction of new high bandwidth services to consumers.
If the legislation is enacted, two things are very likely to happen. First, the telecom and cable companies stand to make lots of money charging access fees to the fast lane. Second, the new fee based, tiered architecture would replace the Internet as we have known it. The Internet and Web have developed and flourished up to now because everyone shared bandwidth equally, allowing small organizations to compete on a level playing ground with giant corporations.
Despite this broad alliance which also includes many small, nonprofit organizations and individual bloggers on the left and right, the telco and cable companies won the latest legislative battle when the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor of the legislation known as the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006 on June 8th.
The legislation now moves to the US Senate for debate and an eventual vote by that body.
This is an issue in which everyone who uses the Internet/Web has a stake. There is still time to make your opinion heard in the debate.
For more information, check out the following websites.
Sites supporting the telcom and cable companies
Sites opposing the telecom and cable companies
Let your South Carolina Senators know how you feel about this issue:
- http://lgraham.senate.gov/ phone: (202) 224–5972
- http://demint.senate.gov/ phone: 202–224–6121
