Big Media Has Big Plans for Privatizing the Internet
The Nation
by Jeff Chester
The nation's largest telephone
and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that
would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today
to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for
virtually everything we do online.
Verizon,
Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing
strategies that would track and store information on our every move in
cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of
which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white
papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and
telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets –
corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers – would get
preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first
priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen
as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated
to a slow lane or simply shut out.
Under
the plans they are considering, all of us – from content providers to
individual users – would pay more to surf online, stream videos or even
send e-mail. Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that
would further limit the online experience, establishing “platinum,”
“gold” and “silver” levels of Internet access that would set limits on
the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that
could be sent or received.
To
make this pay-to-play vision a reality, phone and cable lobbyists are
now engaged in a political campaign to further weaken the nation's
communications policy laws. They want the federal government to permit
them to operate Internet and other digital communications services as
private networks, free of policy safeguards or governmental oversight.
Indeed, both the Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
are considering proposals that will have far-reaching impact on the
Internet's future. Ten years after passage of the ill-advised
Telecommunications Act of 1996, telephone and cable companies are using
the same political snake oil to convince compromised or clueless
lawmakers to subvert the Internet into a turbo-charged digital retail
machine.
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Take Action! Go now to: netfreedomnow.org With
a couple of clicks you can send a letter to CEO’s of Comcast, AT&T,
Verizon, BellSouth, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Charter,
Cablevision/Optimum Online, Qwest, plus your members of Congress!
To learn more about this debate, go to: freepress.net/netfreedom/
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