Here's the guts of it:
Right now, the telephone and cable companies in control of Internet access are trying to use their enormous political muscle to dramatically change the Internet. It might be hard to believe, but lawmakers in Washington are seriously debating whether consumers should be free to use the Internet as they want in the future.
The phone and cable companies now control more than 95% of all Internet access. These large corporations are spending millions of dollars to promote legislation that would divide the Internet into a two-tiered system.
The top tier would be a "Pay-to-Play" high-speed toll-road restricted to only the largest companies that can afford to pay high fees for preferential access to the Net.
The bottom tier -- the slow lane -- would be what is left for everyone else. If the fast lane is the information "super-highway," the slow lane will operate more like a dirt road.
Today's Internet is an incredible open marketplace for goods, services, information and ideas. We can't give that up. A two lane system will restrict innovation because start-ups and small companies -- the companies that can't afford the high fees -- will be unable to succeed, and we'll lose out on the jobs, creativity and inspiration that come with them.
I went to the link they provided, but I really wanted to know more about the situation without getting the eBay spin on it, IYKWIM. So I googled "net neutrality" and found this link:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
Check it out - read some of the information they have on there and if you agree with it, sign the petition. It will automatically send a message to your congress members, too.
I really don't see how this two-tier system could be a Good Thing for anybody. Yeah, it would affect me as a small business owner, but I'm not as concerned about that as I am about how it would affect me as a mere user of the internet. I don't want my access to sites being controlled by big corporations. I kinda like that I can google something and come up with all kinds of funky sites by "the little guys." It's not like I don't use the big name stores on the internet. I do. But I go directly to them when I want them. I don't reply on search engine placement for that type of thing.
Lisa
