I strongly urge the Federal Communications Commission to act swiftly to protect “net neutrality” – the longstanding principle that prevents discrimination on the Internet.
Bottom line is that the internet is a vast and fast growing center for business and communications world wide. It is not something to be played with by special interests and private companies.
They earn their living providing the path to the internet, not controlling content or deciding who's message is the most important.
Private wealth is NOT more important that free speech and an open exchange of ideas currently present on the internet.
Allowing private companies to have control over net access based on who can pay will open the doors to numerous anti-trust law suits when my smaller web based companies find their revenue shifting to bigger companies who can afford to pay the "toll".
Billions of dollars in revenue earned by smaller sites will vanish, moving that income into the hands of the already wealthy, closing to door to American entrepreneurs.
Politics will suffer due to loss of a free exchange of truth. Politicians now discovering their support base and gathering their funding online will find they lost their single most valuable tool to educate and reach their constituents.
The internet does not belong to anyone. No one has a right to allow certain corporations to decide who can see what. Their ONLY job is to deliver packets of information from source to destination, NOT to edit or otherwise control the content of those packets.
If I send an email or a letter I own the copyright to that content. I do not grant permission to any corporation to edit, delay or refuse to deliver my message to my intended recipient based on any fees to be paid to that corporation. That would constitute prior restraint on my content and my freedom of speech based on ability to pay.
The FCC and Congress are required to uphold the Constitution which forbids them from infringing on free speech. Any rule or law that has that effect would be such an infringement.
