Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

Why Jennifer Granholm Really Is Helping Destroy the Internet

InterrupT has an interesting post at Michigan Liberal where he argues that a franchising bill that looks like it’s about to pass, HB 6456, isn’t really related to net neutrality. Sadly, he couldn’t be more wrong, and it’s the type of wrongness that is going to lose us our free and open internet. Here’s an email from a knowledgable friend of mine on how these guys work and why it’s not as simple as thinking that we can just put through net neutrality protections.

Net neutrality politics have gotten a shade complex. Here’s a stab at sorting out why it’s important to pass net neutrality in a state, why it must be done in the same package as “franchise reform,” and why it’s critical even though it would only apply to Internet connections in that state.

Let’s start with power. Ultimately, all politics is a competition for the power to change things. Net neutrality pits the power of the cable and phone companies against…well…pretty much everybody else. They are more organized, well-financed and professional in the game of politics than “everybody else”, which explains why they are so successful.

[ . . . ]

What does telco power do when it fails to win in Washington? It goes to the states. They believe they can get the same thing at the state level. They can convince state legislators that build-out and universal competitive cable TV services aren’t important. And they can pretend net neutrality doesn’t matter. If they win in enough states, then they will have effectively outflanked Washington. That’s their strategy. They’ll have what they want, and we’ll have nothing. Worse, when they don’t need things from politicians, there is nothing to extract from them in a compromise. So, they’ll focus all their time on killing good things we’ll try to get politicians to do.

So what do we have to do? We have to go to whatever states they go to. And we have to put net neutrality and build-out requirements into their “franchise reform”. If we don’t, they’ll win. Simple as that.

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE