If you don't act now, we gonna have the net regulated and favor given to the big companies:


How much have you already used the Internet today?

We don't think twice about how much we rely on the Internet. Imagine not being able to map directions on Google or check the weather online. A business that doesn't have a Web site? Forgettable. Or rather, unsearchable. Remember when we didn't have e-mail? Would you want to go back to those Dark Ages? Me neither.

The Internet is in the very fabric of how we communicate, learn, shop, conduct business, organize, innovate and engage. If we lost it, we'd be lost.

But did you know that we're at risk of losing the Internet as we know it? Millions of Americans don't know that a battle over the future of the Internet is being played out right now in Washington. How it ends will have deep repercussions for decades to come.

On one side are public interest and consumer groups, small businesses, Internet entrepreneurs, librarians, civil libertarians and civil rights groups who want to preserve the Internet as it is - the last remaining open communications platform where anyone with access and a computer can create and consume online content.

Right now a film student in Idaho can upload a video the same way a Hollywood movie studio can. A small upstart company can launch a brilliant idea that challenges the Fortune 500. An independent journalist can break a story without waiting for a newspaper to run or print it.

The principle of "Network Neutrality" is what makes this open communications possible. Net Neutrality is what allows us to go wherever we want online. Our relationship with the phone and cable companies stops when we pay for our Internet service. These companies can not block, control or interfere with what we search for or create online; nor can they prioritize some content over others -making the Hollywood video load faster than the kid's video in Idaho.

On the other side are the Internet service providers, who want to dismantle Net Neutrality. Not only do they want to provide Internet service, but they want to be able to charge users to prioritize their content, effectively giving themselves the ability to choose which content on the Web loads fast, slow or not at all. The film student, the small entrepreneur, and the independent journalist will be lost in the ether, unable to compete with other, more established companies who can pay for a spot in the fast lane.

Gone is the level playing field. Gone is the multitude of voices on the Web. Gone is the Internet as we know it - unless we act now.

The Federal Communications Commission is crafting new Net Neutrality rules right now. The public has until Thursday at midnight to tell the FCC what we value about the Internet, and why we want the agency to create a strong Net Neutrality rule to protect it.

I'm filing my comments today, and I have to admit, it's a little tough -- not because I'm at a loss for words, but because there's so much to say.

I'm filing because:

* An open Internet gives me freedom of expression - freedom to write and share my views and the freedom to find alternative viewpoints;
* I want other, smarter people to come up with the next Google, the next YouTube, the next Web application that I can't even imagine;
* I want to read about people and cultures that are different from me;
* Mainstream media make me scream expletives, and I use the Internet to find alternative sources of news and information;
* I want to e-mail my boyfriend a link to a picture that reminds me of our last vacation;
* Net Neutrality means I don't need anyone's permission to create my own videos, and media execs aren't determining what's funny - we are;
* I come up with potential million-dollar ideas all the time, and some day, I just might start my own business;
* An open Internet feeds the activist in me, allowing me to engage with my community and organize for social change online;
* It's winter and I'd rather shop online, only I still want to support a local business;
* I needed advice on how to prime and paint a room, and found a video online that taught me how to do it; and,
* I don't want to be censored.

This is why I'm filing. Why are you? If you care about how the Internet impacts and boosts your life, and if you care about how the Internet could evolve in years to come, it's essential that you tell the FCC by Thursday.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-tady/losing-the-internet-as-we_b_420322.html


sign the petition here (before thursday!!)

{on the website, just click act now)
http://www.savetheinternet.com/

good maybe people will start doing something that's productive

lol,,that was my thought exactly......might not be a bad thing to get back to doing things in more old fashioned ways(ways that involved actually SOCIALIZING and interacting with others face to face).

while I agree that some people may spend too much time on the pc, what about those people who are disabled and can't leave their homes?

People that can't move around very well, people that are aggorophobic, or people with smaller issues like a borken legs or some such thing...

How about the people that use the internet to keep in touch with friends and family that lives in completely different states? We're supposed to spend a fortune that we don't have to go visit them?

I like the internet the way it is, if people don't socialize more that's not the internets fault. Without the internet people will start just using the phone if they really don't want to leave their home.

we managed before internet somehow.. I dont think it would be so terrible to have it be limited, it would force people to be resourceful

The internet is evil. The MPAA told me so.

I don't under stand what are you people who don't like the internet are doing here ?????????????????

It's hard to believe anyone can think limiting access to the internet is a good thing.

I don't care about socializing or productivity, this about the government trying to LIMIT a persons ability to think for themselves. Find alternative sources of information. Make an informed decision about an issue based on looking at both sides of it.

When you don't have access to anything but the governments bought and paid for propagandists, you have nothing..

so what if adults spend too much time online or that they aren't productive. They have to deal with that. The government doesn't need to come in like a parent and tell grown adults that they have a time limit online and then set a timer.

The government is trying to force themselves to control lives that is none of their business. It's not illegal to be online

I'm getting sick of the government trying to tell me what is good for me as if I were a child.

Considering the internet is fairly new and people could think for themselves before the internet AND considering the internet is actually a privilege which would not exist if not for the government,, I still think it would not be a bad thing to limit the internet and motivate people to be more resourceful

So when the day comes that the government decides to take your ability to vote because it's simply a privilege that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for them you would be fine with that... They'll send you a letter and say women didn't always vote, maybe this will motivate you to be more resourceful..

Only if I could think of some other way besides voting to play a part in the laws of the land,,,,but there are many OTHER ways of communicating and doing business besides the internet

I respect those for whom it has become a necessity, but I feel they are probably a small minority with special circumstances. I would not oppose some special consideration for special circumstances, but I wouldnt have any opposition to limiting the usage otherwise.

The internet is not evil, but not unlike remote controls, cell phones, cable television,and many other forms of technology, it has contributed quite a bit to an abundance of detachment and lazy thinking. We would be far from unable to survive without it.

Among those pushing for Net Neutrality are the big comm corps like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. The reason it appeals to these corps is that they want a legal monopoly (granted from their buddies in Washington, of course). This will more than likely stifle innovation and raise costs. We need only look to the 1934 Communications Act to get an idea of what would happen. (A monopoly on service by big corps who are friendly to Washington-all at the expense of citizens)

If the government does in fact start policing the internet, it would be in chat rooms looking for "terrorist" activity (in which case i would probably be arrested) and cracking down on porn and political forums. How does this affect those that use the internet for talking to family and friends or does research?
At any rate, this wouldn't affect me one Iota.
Conservatives whine about free speech being taken away while they shut out any thought that opposes their view. Take a look at any conservative blog and you'll find some yoohoo calling for those on the left to either be arrested or move to Canada which is something a real Communist would do.
Quite frankly, i believe any dissent should be silent regardless who's in charge, cause this dissent usually leads to violence. case in point when i showed up at a tea party here with an Obama shirt, i was shoved by one of these rednecks.

I couldn't agree more. Good point

And the big cable and telecomm companies are against it, because they want to be able to add usage fees and dictate what content can and cannot be accessed. Comcast and NBC Universals little arrangement can mean that If you are a Comcast internet subscriber you can only access NBC news... I would rather jump off a cliff than be limited to watching keith moldermann and his left wing cronies, because Comcast says so..

come on, man..