The Fight for a Free & Open Internet is Not Over

About Last Night...

I just autodialed a bunch of senators last night to show support for the Congressional Review Act to overturn the repeal of net neutrality. I read a script provided by FFTF. I am not an activist. I am not political. But this is too important for me to do nothing.

Twenty years from now, what will the history books say? Will my grandkids be asking me what it was like when everyone had equal visibility on the internet? Will they be saturated solely by the branding of giant corporations and individuals with deep enough pockets to buy high speed bandwidth? Will they stare at me in disbelief--incapable of even imagining what a free & open internet looks like?

Will I have to explain to them that once upon a time Americans from all income levels all walks of life had an equal chance to be seen and heard on the internet? That un-monetized bandwidth gave new entrepreneurs and small businesses the chance to compete? That the quality of content, not big budgets, drove internet visibility?

Will they believe me when I tell them that small nonprofits sites loaded at the same speed as their Facebook pages? Will they think I'm a nut job when I try to explain Grumpycat's rise to fame, and the fact that the cat was popular because people liked the cat and it's marketing and not because the cat's owner was super rich?

Equal (un-monetized) internet speed gives everyone a chance to be seen and heard. I don't want to look back at this moment in history and remember the day when Comcast and Verizon were able to strip our nation of it's most powerful meritocracy through a handful of incredibly short-sighted, self-interested congressmen.

What is Net Neutrality?

Net Neutrality keeps bandwidth or loading speed consistent for everyone. If Internet Service Providers (Comcast, Verizon, etc.) start altering which web services download at faster and slower speeds based on how much companies pay, they get to dictate which web services we use. The companies themselves no longer have to compete for our attention with quality services and competitive prices, they just have to pay Verizon or Comcast more than their competitors. E.g., Rather than having to create better original shows and compete for subscribers, Netflix and Hulu would've been competing on who could pay more to the ISPs to stream the fastest.

Maybe I prefer a newer, smaller company to book my flights, and that company can't afford to pay as much as Priceline. Even though Priceline's deals are not as good as the newer company's offers, I would be forced to use Priceline because they're bigger and have the money to pay for quicker loading speed. The newer company doesn't have the budget for that yet. Take away Net Neutrality and they never will. Companies will no longer have to compete on price and quality of service or product provided, they will be competing on who can make a better deal with the local monopoly internet service provider.

What Can We Do?

We just need one more senator to support the resolution to reverse the FCC's repeal of net neutrality. If anyone out there is still making calls or sharing articles, please don't give up. We're so close. This is so important.

The article below has some recent developments as well as phone numbers to call. If you don't know what to say--I never do--battleforthenet.com has scripts provided.
http://bit.ly/mediumnews-senjohnkennedy-anti-internet-betrayedthepeople