It's sad when we have to create laws simply to keep people and businesses from doing things that are intuitively evil and wrong.

Props to savetheinternet.com. They are trying to push a bill called the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, which would stop Big Businesses from twisting the existing system of internet to their own design, and screw over independent artists and labels.

Data service providers are pressuring Congress to allow them to create different levels of internet access speed; not to the music and media consumers, but to the providers. Media providers willing to pay more money would have their content moved through the internet at a preferred/faster rate. We can also look at this from another point of view: those who cannot or will not pay extra get their data traffic slopped into the slow lane.

So it won't matter if you have a full-blown 25GBPS connection, if you aren't accessing sites that can afford "Premier Platinum Top-Shelf Delivery" you're going to be remembering what it was like when you had a 28.8 dial-up modem. OK, maybe that's a bit harsh, but not impossible. But the problem is worse than simply an issue of speed, and it goes deeper than just music.

The phone companies should not be allowed to monitor your voice communication and edit out swear words, or political phrases they don't agree with, right?

Internet Service Providers should not be allowed to block blog posts that are anti-Republican, or Anti-Anything, right?

But we've already seen AT&T censor political statements during their web broadcasts. If the Republican Party can afford to pay AT&T more money, their messages get premium (read: unfiltered) service. If the Green Party can't.... well, without some intervention this is where the system is headed.

Comparing this to the way the cable company works is not an accurate analogy. The cable company decides their own content, and they can make you pay more for better content. This makes sense; you pay for content. Data service providers have NOTHING to do with the content coming through them. They are a service, and they have no right to tamper with the data going through their pipes, unless they would like to be held responsible. Do you think AT&T could be held responsible for providing data service to terrorists? Could your internet service provider be held responsible for allowing you access to illegal pornography, or allowing someone to send e-mails about how to construct an atomic bomb?

This is the very reason the FCC exists, to stop nonsense like this from happening. Otherwise, the services might just as well be deregulated, shut down the FCC and save the taxpayers a few billion.

Thank goodness a more reasonable solution was devised, a bill called The Internet Freedom Preservation Act or HR5353, which basically tells data service providers to leave the system the way it is, and let the data flow "...without unreasonable interference or discrimination..."

What you can to do help is make your representative aware of this bill, savetheinternet.com provides a simple way for you to get in contact with your rep and a prepared text to make him/her aware of the situation, and hopefully get the bill passed into law.

Props (as always) the Future of Music Coalition for the linkage and their ongoing efforts to maintain Net Neutrality.

Art Is Resistance
-Zero

Labels: Business Phenomena, Call To Action, Cool Website, Good Cause, political