Mike Ross and 'net neutrality' (UPDATE)
The Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act is being considered by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce committee, of which U.S. Rep. Mike Ross is a member.
The bill would allow big communications companies to control your access to the Internet (the way cable companies control access to cable TV and local telephone companies control access to phone lines). As Common Cause describes it:
Net neutrality is the principle that you should be able to access whatever web content or services you choose, without any interference from your Internet service provider. Right now, no law or rule protects citizens facing obstacles to getting access to the information on the Internet. The COPE bill would make it impossible for those protections to be written into law or rule, making all of us vulnerable to big companies who would like to "own" the Internet and mine it for profit. Some companies like Verizon and Comcast have already announced plans to create a two-tiered Internet, where some websites and services would travel in the "fast lane" - for a fee, of course - and the rest would be relegated to a "slow lane."
Daily Kos says that Rep. Ross is one of four Democratic committee members who are on the fence, and the blog is urging interested citizens to tell him, "Please protect internet freedom from corporate interests by voting for Ed Markey's amendment on network neutrality."
UPDATE: The Markey amendment was defeated, but Ross voted for it.
Comments
Mike Ross is right on the money on this one. Don't take this bill lightly. If we lose net neutrality we'll all lose.
It's not about porn or Bush spying, it's about your isp (Internet service provider) making a deal with Yahoo to slow down or prevent you from accessing the Google search engine, or what if the Arkansas Dem-Gaz makes a deal to prevent you from getting the AT Blog, just for example. As the cell phone salesmen of the world invade the world of the Internet, side deals like I described will flourish like maggots in a dead cow.
We have to be ever vigilant to make sure money grubbers do not ruin the Internet. We'll wind up with nothing if greedy entrepreneurs are allowed to use dirty tricks to keep you from doing what you want online.
It has always pissed me off to no end that the Little Rock channels are blocked on Cox Cable in Fort Smith and not assessable at all with Dish. I rarely need to watch a LR station, but a couple of times a year it sure would be handy. Don't let them do the same thing with your online world.
Thanks you Mike Ross for staying on top of things like this.
Posted by: Deathbyinches | April 26, 2006 04:00 PM
So, they are about to lose out in a la carte on their cable systems so they want to make it up by restricting our free access to the net. Let's hear it for unregulated, unbridaled greed [ops, I mean capitalism.]
Posted by: Janus | April 26, 2006 04:18 PM
Cox airs Little Rock channels in Eureka Springs. Three I think.
Posted by: Gaylord | April 26, 2006 04:36 PM
Cox airs Little Rock channels in Eureka Springs. Three I think. Posted by: Gaylord
I think it's the Ft. Smith TV stations that are making Cox block LR stations there.
Since Eureka Spgs. doesn't have a lot of local TV stations, they are permitted to pick up whatever stations they can get.
Posted by: Patrick, Pocahontas | April 26, 2006 06:56 PM
It's not about porn or Bush spying, it's about your isp (Internet service provider) making a deal with Yahoo to slow down or prevent you from accessing the Google search engine, or what if the Arkansas Dem-Gaz makes a deal to prevent you from getting the AT Blog, just for example Posted by: Deathbyinches.
A disturbing thought! Thanks AT and DBI for bringing this to our attention. Now, what do we need to do about it?
Actually, though, it's kind of amazing how much is available free through the Internet. I guess it's just a matter of time before the Republicans and their big business buddies put a stop to that.
Can anybody name anything besides the air we breathe that's truly free? Eventually, we'll be buying our large economy size air tanks at Wal*Mart (but watch it, because sometimes the large size costs more per pound than the regular size).
Posted by: Patrick, Pocahontas | April 26, 2006 07:47 PM
I heard some more details on this on NPR this morning. The Republican congressmen, of course, are saying, basically, that these big companies have spent all this money on broadband and now they must be allowed to charge us to make their money back.
Nothing like a guaranteed return on investment. I wish the government would change the rules every time I make a bad investment so I can make all my money back.
Of course, they are getting their money back anyway. Internet Service Providers are doing fine. They just want to be finer and the Republican House is all for that.
Almost everybody uses the Internet, and the numbers are only going up. If the Republicans screw it up, they'll have a lot of people, including their own supporters, furious with them.
As I understand it, net neutrality has much more support in the Senate, so maybe they'll kill this thing there.
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