The end of Net neutrality? Big telecoms want to control the Internet
By Joshua Frank
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Jun 21, 2006, 11:30
If you haven't been
following this big story about the future of Net neutrality, I'll try to lay it
out as simply as I can.
Good Guys:
Proponents of Net neutrality.
Bad Guys: The
telecom giants who want to extract fees for service.
The Good Guys want
to protect the Internet and keep it in the hands of folks like you and me. The
Bad Guys want to control it and put it in the hands of big telecommunication
corporations. Now, it's not that black and white of an issue, but for the most
part the Bad Guys are looking to gain more, while the Good Guys (Google,
Amazon.com -- still not great) want to protect what they already have.
Right now the
Senate is heating up, with a vote likely to come down in the near future. A lot
of our elected representatives have not come out one way or another on this
important issue. This really is the future of the Internet we are talking about
here. In the days ahead, if we abandon Net neutrality and some big honcho in
New York City decides websites like this one aren�t worth putting on his
company�s search engine, or provider package, it could be lost.
These corporations
very well could decide what is and what isn't available to be viewed on the
Internet. They could price the little guys out. It could be like the Wal-Mart
of the web. They could very well control most content, and pick what you can
and cannot see, read or listen to. It�d be the end of Internet democracy in the
United States, where all sites can be accessed.
There is quite an
underhanded campaign going on now by a group called "Hands off the
Internet," who claim to want to protect the Internet from regulators and
Big Government. They are even running deceptive ads on blogs and other websites
in hopes of pulling Internet readers into their camp. Some of the big names
behind these cunning ads include AT&T, BellSouth, and Verizon.
The co-chair of
this group is the ex-spokesman for President Bill Clinton and other Democrats,
Mike McCurry. And what a trickster McCurry is. He even writes a column over at
the "liberal" Huffington Post
from time to time. He claims Net neutrality will kill the Internet.
Fact is, it's Net
neutrality that has gotten us this far. Yet he writes, "The Internet is
not a free public good. It is a bunch of wires and switches and connections and
pipes and it is creaky. You all worship at Vince Cerf who has a clear financial
interest in the outcome of this debate but you immediately castigate all of us
who disagree and impune our motives. I get paid a reasonable but small sum to
argue what I believe."
So how much does
this guy get paid? Well, not sure how much the big telecom giants are dolling
out (hundreds of thousands, I'm sure), but he charges $10,000 and up per
speaking gig. That's not a "small sum" in my book. And to think that
the web isn't a "pubic good" is exactly the kind of thinking that has
taken away our airwaves and put them in the hands of big corporations.
You know when you
turn on your TV how there aren't thousands of channels at your disposal? That's
because you have to pay for those channels, they aren't free -- even though you
supposedly own the airwaves. The same thing could happen to the Internet if guys
like McCurry have their way. You'd have to pay for access to the web, and each
carrier would have much different ideas about what the �web� is. There would be
different packages and different sites available per package. Sort of like
cable TV vs. DirectTV. It would radically change the way the web works. And in
the process it would likely leave out alternative blogs and news sites -- as
they would have to pony up big bucks to have access to consumers. And even if
they did, they might not make the cut. Somebody else could decide if it�s a
site worth your time or interest.
The Internet is a
work in progress, spearheaded by innovative and creative people, not big
corporations. As the ol' adage goes: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Joshua Frank is the author of "Left Out!
How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush" and edits www.brickburner.org.
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