Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 09:37:29 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam <arun@mssrf.res.in>

From Andy Carvin

Coalition to Launch "Save the Internet" Campaign for Network Neutrality This Monday, a coalition of Internet activists from across the political spectrum will officially launch the Save the Internet Campaign to fight telecom companies that are trying to create a multi-tiered Internet, where lower-income customers have less access to content and bandwidth than higher-paying customers. Quoting their new website: Congress is pushing a law that would abandon Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment. Network neutrality prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work the best - based on who pays them the most. Your local library shouldn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer. Net Neutrality allows everyone to compete on a level playing field and is the reason that the Internet is a force for economic innovation, civic participation and free speech. If the public doesn't speak up now, Congress will cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by telephone and cable companies that want to decide what you do, where you go, and what you watch online. This isn't just speculation - we've already seen what happens elsewhere when the Internet's gatekeepers get too much control. Last year, Canada's version of AT&T - Telus- blocked their Internet customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to workers with whom Telus was negotiating. And Shaw, a major Canadian cable TV company, charges an extra $10 a month to subscribers who dare to use a competing Internet telephone service. Congress thinks they can sell out and the public will never know. The SavetheInternet.Com Coalition is proving them wrong. Founding coalition members: Professor Lawrence Lessig - Stanford Professor Timothy Wu - Columbia Free Press - Coalition Coordinator Gun Owners of America Craig Newmark - Craigslist.com Founder Professor Glenn Reynolds - aka blogger Instapundit MoveOn.org Civic Action Consumers Union American Library Association Consumer Federation of America Public Knowledge Common Cause U.S. PIRG Center for Digital Democracy Association of Research Libraries The Service Roundtable - small business network Afro-Netizen Loyola University Chicago, Department of Communications Educause New Organizing Institute Covenant College Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project Association for Community Networking Amazing Kids CCTV Center for Media and Democracy Alliance for Community Media Professor Susan Crawford Center for Creative Voices in Media Community Technology Centers FreeNetworks.org Media Access Project Media Alliance The Agonist NYC Wireless AcornActive Media Foundation Californians Against Waste Chicago Media Action CUWiN National Video Resources Illinois Community Technology Coalition Ohio Community Computing Network Peacefire Quicksilver Communications To get involved, visit the website and let Congress know how you feel about the issue. -andy