What’s Really at Stake with Net Neutrality

Published on Thursday, May 4, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
What’s Really at Stake with Net Neutrality
by Josh Silver

Whenever new legislation in Washington threatens the bottom lines of Fortune 500 companies, they unleash a full-scale war for the hearts and minds of decision makers and the public. Half of the battle is winning the ear of elites. The other half is fought in the field of public opinion: mass-emails, paid advertisements, blogs, op-eds, and coalitions.

Corporate-driven campaigns engage an established set of high-priced lobby shops, PR firms, rolodex-for-hire firms, and pollsters. “Astroturf” campaigns are launched to create the illusion of grassroots support. Often enough, the combination of legislators addicted to campaign contributions and the sheer power of multi-million dollar campaigns “flood the zone” and win the day. More corporate-friendly legislation at the expense of real public input.

The current fight for Internet “Network Neutrality” now raging in Congress is different. As predicted, the cable and telephone companies have lined up their PR henchmen and “Astroturf” campaigns in an attempt to muscle through legislation that hands them control of the Internet. But they’re now facing a formidable opposition in the form of a public that’s fed up with business as usual in the nation’s capital.

At stake here is the future of not just the Internet, but nearly all media that provide news and information to the public. Cable and phone companies deliver broadband to 98% of the U.S. market. They want to be able to ration it out with a premium tier, fast service to content providers that will pay handsomely for the service. Opposing them are real public interest groups (www.savetheinternet.com) and the Internet companies - Google, Yahoo!, Ebay, Amazon, Intel – that want to keep the internet a neutral platform -- as it always was until the courts and FCC loosened net neutrality regulations last year.


http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0504-33.htm