Thuso
April 27th, 2006, 11:41 AM
The digital divide is an issue that excludes many Black and poor people from equal access to information in the Information Age. There are corporate raiders who want to become "Toll Gate Keepers" of the Internet. These actions would permanently position an underclass of citizens held hostage to the giant telecom companies. We must join the fight to prevent this from happening.
Below is an excerpt from Bruce's Beat (http://www.blackcommentator.com/181/181_bruces_beat.html) at BlackCommentator.com by Bruce Dixon, sub-titled, Who's Afraid of Bobby Rush Now?
Over the last week we have become aware that Congressional Black Caucus member Bobby Rush of Chicago appears to be the sole Democratic co-sponsor of a truly catastrophic bill that would end the Internet as we know it and leave it up to AT & T, Verizon and other ISPs and owners of the Internet backbone to determine what content users will be allowed to access. This is not exaggeration, and not hyperbole.
Daily Kos explains (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/24/201526/948) the issue this way
Internet service provision in the U.S. is covered by telecommunications law, and has operated under the idea of "network neutrality." In it's early years, telephone companies provided most Web service, and carried most of the traffic. Because of the nature of laws regulating phone service, Web traffic was handled just like phone traffic, each "call" being equal. That means every page you surf to on the Internet is served up just like any other, as far as your ISP is concerned. You can go from Amazon.com to Aunt Harriet's family history blog equally.
Here's what's at stake (http://www.savetheinternet.com/=faq) with this legislation.
”The nation's largest telephone and cable companies – including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner – want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.
”They want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video – while slowing down or blocking their competitors. . . .
”On the Internet, consumers are in ultimate control – deciding between content, applications and services available anywhere, no matter who owns the network. There's no middleman. But without net neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV. Network owners will decide which channels, content and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu....”
A simple and graphic explanation of network neutrality is available at this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U&feature=Views&page=1&t=t&f=b). Turning the public internet into their private toll road has been the Holy Grail of telco monopolies for more than a decade. Congressman Rush and the telco monopolies have brought into existence a national coalition called Save the Internet (http://www.savetheinternet.com/) because this is precisely what is at stake.
As if that were not enough, the legislation will create a national cable TV franchise, invalidating the hard-won agreements negotiated between communities and cable TV companies around the country which guarantee a small measure of access to public service, educational and community affairs programming, and which require cable companies to offer service to the poorer, mostly black areas of cities and towns across the country to which they otherwise would refuse to “build out.” Having such a national franchise means that new giant corporations entering into the cable business could bypass local communities and governments and cut a single deal on the federal level alone. Good for them. Bad for cable customers, and worst of all for those of us who live in the parts of town which will not be offered “lightspeed service” or “priority service” or whatever your local tentacle of the telco monopolies are calling it.
BC contacted the congressman's office by phone to inquire about the proposed legislation and have yet to receive a reply. We are not the only ones. For more than a month, the good people at Chicago Media Action have tried too. They finally printed an open letter (http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=421) to the congressman which you can read here.
Some of us go way back with the congressman from the first district of Illinois, back to when he was a comrade of Fred Hampton (http://www.blackcommentator.com/117/117_fred_hampton.html), and worked tirelessly to end the exploitation of man and woman by man. Back then, corporate and governmental evildoers were actually afraid of Bobby Rush, and for good reason. Who's afraid of Bobby Rush now? Maybe we all should be.
(As BC went to print, we learned that two Blacks on Rep. Rush's committee joined two other Democrats in voting for the GOP/teleco industry's bill. The CBC members are Edolphus Towns (NY) and Albert Wynn (MD). The bill now goes to the full House. - The Editors.)
According to some sources, the apparent goal of Rush, of his Republican co-sponsors and of the telecommunications industry appears to be to rush this privatization of public resources and of the vital public space for information and debate itself into law as quickly as possible before the summer recess and mid-term elections. They must not be allowed to succeed.
BC urgently recommends that readers sign the petition (http://civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/) to prevent the corporate hijacking of the Internet, as more than a quarter million already have. Email (http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet) your own representative in Congress too, and let him or her know how you feel about giving the internet away (http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/29086) to Verizon, Comcast and AT&T. And as a last step you might phone the DC office of CBC chairman Mel Watt of North Carolina at (202) 225-1510 or fax him at (202) 225-1512 to inform him of your concern that Rush's legislation will deprive black communities of the limited protection against redlining and discrimination in the provision of cable service that they now enjoy. He'll appreciate it.
For more information on the incalculable damage which will be done by this ill-advised legislation, we strongly suggest our readers check out some of the following sites and share the information with everyone who uses email on the internet. While you still can.
* FreePress.net (http://www.freepress.net/)
* Tech Law Journal (http://www.techlawjournal.com/)
* MyDD's page (http://www.mydd.com/) on the issue
* TPM's coverage (http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/29086)
* Common Cause's brief summary (http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1539607) of the bill's objectionable provisions
* Community Media Workshop’s Newstip (http://www.newstips.org/interior.php?section=Newstips&main_id=607&topic=)
copyright 2002-2006
www.blackcommentator.com
all rights reserved
Don't sit on the sidelines on this issue. Make sure you write to your congressional representatives, and help protect the freedom of the Internet.
Below is an excerpt from Bruce's Beat (http://www.blackcommentator.com/181/181_bruces_beat.html) at BlackCommentator.com by Bruce Dixon, sub-titled, Who's Afraid of Bobby Rush Now?
Over the last week we have become aware that Congressional Black Caucus member Bobby Rush of Chicago appears to be the sole Democratic co-sponsor of a truly catastrophic bill that would end the Internet as we know it and leave it up to AT & T, Verizon and other ISPs and owners of the Internet backbone to determine what content users will be allowed to access. This is not exaggeration, and not hyperbole.
Daily Kos explains (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/24/201526/948) the issue this way
Internet service provision in the U.S. is covered by telecommunications law, and has operated under the idea of "network neutrality." In it's early years, telephone companies provided most Web service, and carried most of the traffic. Because of the nature of laws regulating phone service, Web traffic was handled just like phone traffic, each "call" being equal. That means every page you surf to on the Internet is served up just like any other, as far as your ISP is concerned. You can go from Amazon.com to Aunt Harriet's family history blog equally.
Here's what's at stake (http://www.savetheinternet.com/=faq) with this legislation.
”The nation's largest telephone and cable companies – including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner – want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.
”They want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. They want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services, and streaming video – while slowing down or blocking their competitors. . . .
”On the Internet, consumers are in ultimate control – deciding between content, applications and services available anywhere, no matter who owns the network. There's no middleman. But without net neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV. Network owners will decide which channels, content and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu....”
A simple and graphic explanation of network neutrality is available at this link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U&feature=Views&page=1&t=t&f=b). Turning the public internet into their private toll road has been the Holy Grail of telco monopolies for more than a decade. Congressman Rush and the telco monopolies have brought into existence a national coalition called Save the Internet (http://www.savetheinternet.com/) because this is precisely what is at stake.
As if that were not enough, the legislation will create a national cable TV franchise, invalidating the hard-won agreements negotiated between communities and cable TV companies around the country which guarantee a small measure of access to public service, educational and community affairs programming, and which require cable companies to offer service to the poorer, mostly black areas of cities and towns across the country to which they otherwise would refuse to “build out.” Having such a national franchise means that new giant corporations entering into the cable business could bypass local communities and governments and cut a single deal on the federal level alone. Good for them. Bad for cable customers, and worst of all for those of us who live in the parts of town which will not be offered “lightspeed service” or “priority service” or whatever your local tentacle of the telco monopolies are calling it.
BC contacted the congressman's office by phone to inquire about the proposed legislation and have yet to receive a reply. We are not the only ones. For more than a month, the good people at Chicago Media Action have tried too. They finally printed an open letter (http://www.chicagomediaaction.org/news.php?id=421) to the congressman which you can read here.
Some of us go way back with the congressman from the first district of Illinois, back to when he was a comrade of Fred Hampton (http://www.blackcommentator.com/117/117_fred_hampton.html), and worked tirelessly to end the exploitation of man and woman by man. Back then, corporate and governmental evildoers were actually afraid of Bobby Rush, and for good reason. Who's afraid of Bobby Rush now? Maybe we all should be.
(As BC went to print, we learned that two Blacks on Rep. Rush's committee joined two other Democrats in voting for the GOP/teleco industry's bill. The CBC members are Edolphus Towns (NY) and Albert Wynn (MD). The bill now goes to the full House. - The Editors.)
According to some sources, the apparent goal of Rush, of his Republican co-sponsors and of the telecommunications industry appears to be to rush this privatization of public resources and of the vital public space for information and debate itself into law as quickly as possible before the summer recess and mid-term elections. They must not be allowed to succeed.
BC urgently recommends that readers sign the petition (http://civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/) to prevent the corporate hijacking of the Internet, as more than a quarter million already have. Email (http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet) your own representative in Congress too, and let him or her know how you feel about giving the internet away (http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/29086) to Verizon, Comcast and AT&T. And as a last step you might phone the DC office of CBC chairman Mel Watt of North Carolina at (202) 225-1510 or fax him at (202) 225-1512 to inform him of your concern that Rush's legislation will deprive black communities of the limited protection against redlining and discrimination in the provision of cable service that they now enjoy. He'll appreciate it.
For more information on the incalculable damage which will be done by this ill-advised legislation, we strongly suggest our readers check out some of the following sites and share the information with everyone who uses email on the internet. While you still can.
* FreePress.net (http://www.freepress.net/)
* Tech Law Journal (http://www.techlawjournal.com/)
* MyDD's page (http://www.mydd.com/) on the issue
* TPM's coverage (http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/29086)
* Common Cause's brief summary (http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1539607) of the bill's objectionable provisions
* Community Media Workshop’s Newstip (http://www.newstips.org/interior.php?section=Newstips&main_id=607&topic=)
copyright 2002-2006
www.blackcommentator.com
all rights reserved
Don't sit on the sidelines on this issue. Make sure you write to your congressional representatives, and help protect the freedom of the Internet.