Net Neutrality Is in Jeopardy - Successful Blog -

Net Neutrality

Brian Clark at Copyblogger defines Net Neutrality in way that we can all understand it.

All of your current Internet marketing plans depend on Net Neutrality. And likely a lot that you do online outside the scope of business depends on it too. Net Neutrality allows everyone to compete on a level playing field and is the reason that the Internet is a force for economic innovation, civic participation and free speech. —The Four Horsemen of the Internet Apocalypse

Why is Brian talking about Net Neutrality?

Because Doc Searls is . . . and so is Jeff Pulver . . . and so am I — on all three of my blogs.

What We’re Saying

You might not know who Doc Searls is, but he’s my Walter Cronkite on issues of the Internet. He reasons with facts, not emotional pleas.

Doc said this last Friday . . .

I am fed up with the current wave of soundbites, platitudes, ads and marketing flooding the airwaves that profess to speak for the advancement of the Internet and communications. These ads are influencing Congress and governments around the World as they write the rules that will shape the future of the Internet and communications.

But, where is the voice and message of the Internet community — the Internet innovators, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts — in this world-changing discussion? —Save It or Lose It

Doc was calling attention to Jeff Pulver’s contest to get people to make messages to Save the Internet.

Here’s what Jeff Pulver had to say . . .

We need soundbites of our own, messaging of our own. We are allegedly the revolutionaries of the Internet and communications. Shouldn’t we be the ones revolutionizing the way advocacy is done and communicated in the 21st Century? Shouldn’t we be the creative forces verifying that the medium is the message? Who better than us . . . to think outside the box to send a message to Congress from the global community of Internet innovators and enthusiasts. . . .

We need to harness your individual genius and our collective genius (for isn’t it the collective power of the Internet that makes it so remarkable?) to save the Internet, and we are willing to pay and give you eternal glory (or at least glory for as long as the Internet lasts). — Help Save OUR Internet!

How could I stand by and say nothing?

I didn’t.

I’ve been enjoying this community so much I’ve hardly paid attention to what’s been happening about the Internet in the real world. I guess I figured that I wasn’t hurting anyone, why would anyone want to hurt me?

That kind of thinking has gotten me in trouble before. . . .

I don’t pick causes or argue my views to others much. I figure folks have their own. They don’t need mine. Still I value what I just described so highly that I cannot stay quiet now.

So hear me whisper this. Some folks don’t care about country stores and communities. They care about pipelines that carry bits and bytes and how much they can charge for that service. . . .

Would you read what I read today by a man named Jeff Pulver? He’s running a contest for ideas to help make people aware. Here are the rules.

I really like our country stores a lot. My life would be less without all of you. —What if WE Go the Way of the Old Country Store?

Just Tell Someone

Brian outlines exactly what is now in front of Congress, and what we might do about it. Brian’s article makes me realize he’s the best journalist I’ve read in the longest while. Go there please.

There are things, easy things, you can do–like post an article that links to Brian’s explanation and Jeff’s Save the Internet Contest. How hard could it be just to let people know?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Tom Glocer Don’t Spin Stories to My Friends