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Small business on the Internet is in danger. Freedom of speech on the Internet is in danger.
Please support these organizations who are working to preserve the Internet.
Do not be lulled into inaction when politicians and cable and telephone monopolies tell you this is about lowering your broadband
costs and putting it on the backs of businesses.
Well, guess who the businesses are? YOU.
This is about consolidation of power into the hands of a few big players deciding what e-mails will get through
and which websites can be visited.
This is censorship and monopolistic behavior that affects and may even kill your small business.
Fortunes have been spent to influence our politicians and sadly it is working.
The lobbyists and public relations machines for the local telephone and cable companies have been spinning the facts.
The half-truths are flying in every direction.
Honesty was an early casualty of all this influence peddling and power.
This is all about the government helping huge, regulated businesses crush their smaller, upstart competitors.
This is all about turning local telephone and cable companies into tyrants granting life and death over small businesses.
This is all about deciding what is more important: corporate profits for once-and-future-monopolies or freedom of speech
and level playing fields for all aspiring businesses.
This is not about lowering the cost of broadband access, a cynical wedge-issue floated by these adroit companies.
This is not about what lobbyists and shills are calling "free and open competition" with Orwellian doublespeak while the
local telephone and cable companies continue to benefit from vast public subsidies.
These reconstituting monopolies want the reverse of "free and open competition."
They want "protection money" paid by every small and large Internet business in the world, regardless whether their traffic flows into
the local telephone or cable company's network,
and for the government to grant these near-monopolies the power to punish any business they choose by impeding Internet traffic to their sites.
If "Net Neutrality" is not passed, these reconstituting monopolies will be receiving the power of censorship, the power
to choose which businesses succeed and fail, in return for an unwritten "promise" to never use that power.
The Internet is our only medium of equal, free speech.
This makes it a crucial pillar of democracy and something worth fighting for.
I do not exaggerate when I say that any step away from Internet Neutrality damages us as a people.
The Internet is fertile soil for small business dreams.
The Internet provides unfettered communication for free voices to reach out to the world.
It is your voice. It is your neighbor's voice. It is about every voice speaking with equal clarity.
It is why your e-business had a chance to succeed. It is one of the treasures of our time.
Below is an excerpt from Vint Cerf's statement to Congress on this topic.
Vint was one of the true fathers of the Internet. While working for MCI, he was one the forces behind successful commercialization
of the Internet. He is now a VP at Google.
"Google believes that consumers should be able to use the Internet connections that they pay for the
way that they want. This principle - that users pick winners and losers in the Internet marketplace, not
carriers - is an architectural and policy choice critical to innovation online. Google itself is a product
of the Internet. We care passionately about the future of the Net, not just for ourselves, but because
of all the other potential Googles out there. Indeed, we are not alone: Our concerns are shared by
Internet companies, small businesses, end users, and consumer groups across the country. The
vibrant ecosystem of innovation that lies at the heart of the Internet creates wealth and opportunity for
millions of Americans. That ecosystem - based upon a neutral open network -- should be nourished
and promoted."
Please help preserve the Internet now!
If we do not, in a very short time a web page like this one could mysteriously become unreachable by you or anyone,
because it contains something that a reconstituting monopoly or politician may not want you to hear.
If you have a website, your site could suddenly become inaccessible. We cannot give that power to anyone or any entity.
Please visit the websites of these organizations, contact your Senators and Representatives, and tell your friends.
Related links:
Kevin Bohacz
President, CPrompt
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