Got this in my email today from freepress.net and savetheinternet.com
http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/10/05/26/will-dirty-politics-kill-internet
Your representative in the House just sold you out to Comcast, Verizon and AT&T.
Rep. Charlie Wilson has joined 73 other Democrats in signing an industry-written letter telling the FCC to abandon its efforts to protect Internet users and stop big companies from blocking Internet traffic.
It’s yet another example of dirty politics destroying our democracy, and it has to stop.
The nasty little secret that everybody knows? Almost every one of these representatives has accepted massive contributions from the phone and cable lobby. Now the industry is demanding a return on its investment.
By signing the industry letter, your representative has drastically undercut the FCC’s ability to get a fast, affordable and open Internet to everyone in America. Your representative is actually taking a position against the interests of rural and low-income communities.
We aren’t going to let this outrageous and unethical behavior stand. Today, we’re asking hundreds of thousands of Americans to sign our own letter telling the FCC and Congress that Rep. Wilson doesn’t speak for us, President Obama or the millions of other Americans who support an open and affordable Internet.
That Rep. Wilson would intentionally sell out the public may be hard to imagine. Perhaps these representatives didn’t know what they were signing. Or perhaps this is just business as usual, another D.C. betrayal of the public trust. (Is it any wonder the latest Gallup public opinion poll counts a congressional disapproval rating of 73 percent?)
These members of Congress acted on blind faith that phone and cable companies have the best interests of Americans in mind.
But Comcast and AT&T can no better police themselves to protect the open Internet than BP can police itself to protect the oceans. And we already know how that ends.
Congress can’t hand the future of communications over to these companies. The results would be disastrous.
By taking action today, you’re telling Rep. Wilson that bad deeds won’t go unnoticed.
Thank you,
Timothy Karr
Free Press Action Fund
I really don't like this. 74 House Democrats and 37 Senate Republicans have decided that allowing telecoms to decide what is allowed to be transferred on the internet.
Internet providers need to stop trying to be content providers and just be dumb pipes. (They can have their own content sites and delivery methods but they need to stop trying to screw over competing content delivery people or speech/data that they don't like).
Color me disappointed.
I've been down on Charlie Wilson for a lonnggggg time.
It's not a big deal, less service for more money is the American way :rolleyes:.