[Ecommerce] SavetheInternet coalition principles and CNet news story

[Manon Ress]

SavetheInternet.com Coalition Statement of Principles

We believe that the Internet is a crucial engine for economic growth
and democratic discourse. We urge Congress to take steps now to
preserve network neutrality, a guiding principle of the Internet, and
to ensure that the Internet remains open to innovation and progress.

Network neutrality is the Internet's First Amendment. Without it, the
Internet is at risk of losing the openness and accessibility that has
revolutionized democratic participation, economic innovation and free
speech.

 From its beginnings, the Internet was built on a cooperative,
democratic ideal. It has leveled the playing field for all comers.
Everyday people can have their voices heard by thousands, even
millions of people. Network neutrality has prevented gatekeepers from
blocking or discriminating against new economic, political and social
ideas.

The major telecommunications legislation now under consideration in
Congress must include meaningful and enforceable network neutrality
requirements to keep the Internet free and open to all.

END of QUOTE

You can join the coalition, sign petition etc at:  http://
www.savetheinternet.com/=faq

New group aims to 'save the Internet'
By Anne Broache
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: April 24, 2006, 12:15 PM PDT
http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-6064384.html

Days before a congressional committee is set to vote on an overhaul
of the nation's telecommunications policy, a broad coalition of
media, consumer and Internet groups has organized behind a dramatic
tagline: "Save the Internet."

Dozens of organizations ranging from the conservative-to-libertarian
Gun Owners of America to the liberal group Moveon.org to the American
Library Association, have just launched a Web site under the "Save
the Internet" banner. During a Monday press conference call,
supporters of the newly minted group at times adopted the tone of a
pep rally.

"The fight for Internet freedom is now being waged in earnest," said
Tim Karr, campaign director for Free Press, a media reform
organization that opposes large media companies and organized the
coalition. "On one side you have the public...on the other side you
have the nation's largest telephone and cable companies, who have
aligned with some in Congress to strip the Internet of the First
Amendment."

At issue is a concept known as Net neutrality, also called network
neutrality. It's a philosophy supported by Internet content providers
such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon.com that would prohibit
broadband providers from prioritizing certain types of Web traffic--
such as streaming video or their own preferred content.

Large telephone and cable companies have argued against the need to
put such principles into law, saying they're not interested in
blocking sites or services but deserve the right to charge extra for
such a "fast lane" to make their investments in bandwidth-hogging
services and new technologies economically viable. Broadband
providers have been spending billions to run fiber or faster links to
American homes and businesses.

The latest version of a telecommunications reform bill, expected to
go to a full committee vote in the U.S. House of Representatives
Energy and Commerce Committee this week, doesn't go far enough to
ensure Net neutrality provisions, the Save the Internet coalition
claims.

At an initial vote on that bill just before Congress' spring recess,
a quartet of Democrats failed to secure passage of an amendment that
said any content provider must be awarded bandwidth "with equivalent
or better capability than the provider extends to itself or
affiliated parties, and without the imposition of any charge." The
Save the Internet Coalition said it hoped such an amendment would be
more successful at the upcoming vote.

The current bill would require the Federal Communications Commission
to vet all complaints of violations of the FCC's own Net neutrality
principles within 90 days. It would also give the FCC the power to
levy fines of up to $500,000 per violation.

The bill also contained explicit language denying the FCC the
authority to make new rules on Net neutrality. Democrats and Net
neutrality supporters have charged that lack of enforcement power
would mean the FCC would be unable to deal with the topic flexibly.

The FCC's broad principles, which appeared in a document released
last summer, don't protect against the kind of discrimination that
Internet content providers fear could take hold, said Gigi Sohn,
president of the advocacy group Public Knowledge. Those principles
say that consumers should be able to access lawful content and run
applications of their choice and connect whichever lawful devices
they wish to the networks they use.

Companies like Verizon and politicians siding with them have argued
that such concerns are largely hypothetical and that preemptive
regulation would cause an undue burden as they make expensive
investments in new, more advanced networks. At its Web site, the Save
the Internet Coalition lists four examples of what it deemed
discrimination by Internet service providers, though two of those
examples occurred at the hands of Canadian providers, which arguably
wouldn't face any repercussions from any new U.S. law.

Other critics of preemptive federal legislation have suggested that
Net neutrality rules would give the FCC far too much power to
regulate the Internet and micromanage what kind of network
arrangements are permitted or not.

But even the specter of such discrimination is enough to warrant
concern, said Craig Newmark, founder of the popular Craigslist
classified site. "According to line workers I speak to at big telcos,
the companies would use these new privileges to hurt the little
guys," he told reporters on Monday's conference call, "and I don't
think that should happen."

************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

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