Net Neutrality

[FrankZappa]

As you know, I almost never reach out to you personally with a request to get involved in a debate in the U.S. Congress. However, today I feel I must.
Right now, the telephone and cable companies in control of Internet access are trying to use their enormous political muscle to dramatically change the Internet. It might be hard to believe, but lawmakers in Washington are seriously debating whether consumers should be free to use the Internet as they want in the future.
The phone and cable companies now control more than 95% of all Internet access. These large corporations are spending millions of dollars to promote legislation that would divide the Internet into a two-tiered system.
The top tier would be a "Pay-to-Play" high-speed toll-road restricted to only the largest companies that can afford to pay high fees for preferential access to the Net.
The bottom tier -- the slow lane -- would be what is left for everyone else. If the fast lane is the information "super-highway," the slow lane will operate more like a dirt road.
Today\'s Internet is an incredible open marketplace for goods, services, information and ideas. We can\'t give that up. A two lane system will restrict innovation because start-ups and small companies -- the companies that can\'t afford the high fees -- will be unable to succeed, and we\'ll lose out on the jobs, creativity and inspiration that come with them.
The power belongs with Internet users, not the big phone and cable companies. Let\'s use that power to send as many messages as possible to our elected officials in Washington. Please join me by clicking here for house and here for the senate right now to send a message to your representatives in Congress before it is too late. You can make the difference.
Thank you for reading this note. I hope you\'ll make your voice heard today.
Sincerely,

Meg Whitman
President and CEO
eBay Inc.
P.S. If you have any questions about this issue, please contact us at government_relations@ebay.com.

[weekapaug19]

wow...had no idea about this, was any of this info ever on the news or anything.....that\'s not cool at all

[FrankZappa]

yea, I had no idea either. Someone I work with showed it to me. :mad:

[davepeck]

here\'s some more info

[derickw]

thanks for the direct patition link Dave, def. sign that thing

[RadicalRich1138]

i read on PT this was bullshit, why would ebay care about anything other than thier profits?

[wildcoyote]

It appears AT&T is at it again.  For those too young to remember (I\'m on the fringe of this myself) or haven\'t taken business classes check this out.  An anti trust law suit required AT&T to break up starting Jan 1, 1984 in order to provide a free competition.  Much like the T2 edition terminator, you can blow it up, but the pieces slither back together.

[davepeck]

i read on PT this was bullshit, why would ebay care about anything other than thier profits?

i posted the snopes link for a reason.