Tuesday, April 25, 2006

House Judiciary Meeting on Net Neutrality Today


Heard enough about network neutrality to get you scared? Worried about the telcos and cable companies killing off neutrality and ending the era of Internet innovation (think Skype, Vonage, Jajah and other creative applications)? Now it's time for you to get involved.

What You Can Do Now: Contacting Key Members of Congress

Here's a message you can use:

Congressman (or Senator), as a GOP supporter and fundraiser, I want to express my extreme disappointment in your apparent willingness to side with the telcos in the matter of network neutrality.

At risk is America's leadership role in Internet innovation. Google, eBay, Amazon, Vonage and others create value, evident through their market capitalization values. Erecting tollbooths on the Internet does the opposite - it subtracts value. And the telcos -- through their spokespersons and the hardware they plan to purchase -- clearly intend to create artificial tollbooths on the Internet to maximize revenue and defeat innovative services that threaten their business models.

How would a startup compete with large companies who are able to pay prioritization tarriffs? What will prevent a telco from entering any market and blocking competitive traffic? The risks of ending network neutrality are simply too high.

The wording of prospective neutrality legislation can be clear and direct: blocking, monitoring, filtering, or impeding packets based upon type, source, or destination should be strictly forbidden.

America's national security and economic well-being hang in the balance. I -- and many other members of the GOP -- urge you to reconsider your position on network neutrality.

Call now. Operators are standing by.

TechWeb: Net Neutrality Debate Heats Up

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