URGENT!: Saving The Internet

Please take the time to let your congress people know how you feel about Net Neutrality. The following post from Howard Rheingold illustrates how important the issue is becoming:

[via Smartmobs]

With the defeat of the Markey net neutrality amendment, and the passage out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee of the COPE bill [pdf], the action is moving to the Senate.

Sen. Stevens's (R-Alaska) comprehensive bill isn't public yet, but we do have a draft network neutrality amendment [pdf] being circulated by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Bryon Dorgan (D-N.D.)

It's becoming clear that a good thing that could happen this year on this front may be nothing. Even if the well-intentioned and well-drafted Snowe/Dorgan amendment is put in place, we won't necessarily have the unfettered internet that SaveTheInternet wants.

The amendment requires broadband providers "not to block, interfere with, discriminate against, impair, or degrade the ability of any person to use a broadband connection to access, use, send, post, receive, or offer any lawful content, application, or service made available via the Internet."

That's good, yes.  But the bill goes on.  It provides that network providers:

(1) are allowed to offer "to users a broadband video service or other service that requires prioritization of content, applications or services," (as long as those video services don't amount to bocking or interfering),

(2) are allowed to prioritize in a most favored nation sense (nonaffiliates get the same quality of service as affiliates),

(3) are allowed to discriminate based on "type of application," and

(4) aren't required to provide symmetric transport up and down.

Under this amendment, we're still in a swamp of provider control that will be infinitely malleable in the providers' capable hands. What's a similar "type of application" (and who gets to decide this question)? What's a "broadband video service"-- won't that be anything the provider prefers? What's "similar content," access to which has got to be at the same speeds under the bill?

Please also blog about this and spread the word to others. It's important that we users of the internet who benefit from it's free and open nature band together and safeguard this resource for ourselves and future generations.