Battle of the lobbyists…
The ISP giants are lining up against the Internet giants in a 2 round cage match. At steak is whether the ISP is allowed to give preference to specific internet services they favor, or if they have to provide neutral access to the internet for customers. Currently favor can be had in exchange for cash payoffs extorted from the internet giants by the Telcos, but in the future this type of tactic could be used against specific forms of traffic: encrypted email, VOIP (I bet the telcos would like to limit VOIP to their own offering providers instead of allowing traffic to go to another company they do not profit from); torrents (other high bandwidth less profitable traffic) etc…
April 28th, 2006
I intend to write my representatives and ask that they support a “neutral” net. Shaw, a cable company in Canada, is already charging extra for folks who use a competing VOIP rather than selecting their offering. I gather this is being challenged, but I hold little hope that Shaw will be forced to change their ways. I’ve not researched this one for a few weeks so there could be an outcome by now. If Shaw gets away with it, you can bet companies here will follow suit, though it has been suggested that Comcast is already doing this, albeit without owning up to it.
This issue has stirred up the lazy activists, as I call them. They can be troubled to forward e-mails, mostly advocating nonsense, or using easily disproven claims to substantiate what they think they are saying. They generally don’t do much else. I’ve received perhaps a score of e-mails about this one, mostly referencing a campaign for “net neutrality” organized by Moveon.org . If you wish to participate in their campaign, feel free to go to their site and fill out their form, but be aware that they are likely keeping the information they collect so they can contact you on other matters, and they may sell or give your information to others so they may also trouble you with solicitations.
April 28th, 2006
It sounds like moveon.org started as a non-partisan organization, but from most statements I’ve seen from their organization they seem just as partisan as any other PAC out there. I would have a hard time affiliating myself with them unless I had time to fully research the scope of their statement on net neutrality.
April 29th, 2006
I got e-mails to our two senators and my representative, the peaceful, thrilling, exotic Cynthia McKinney. I sometimes don’t care for her grandstanding, and the occasional wacky issues she takes on, but she apparently brings home the bacon for enough of my fellow Dekalb County citizens for her to keep the office. Most of my neighbors in Dunwoody would like to crucify her, or at least put her out of office. I think it is cute.
I’ve dealt with PACs and other sorts of special interest groups. They have immediate purposes but they’ve become part of the problem so I try to avoid them, preferring to act in my capacity as a citizen.