SAIC Free Culture’s Letter to the FCC in Favor of Net Neutrality

October 21, 2009

Dear FCC Commissioners,

We, the members of Students for Free Culture at the School of the Art Institute Chicago, urge you to stand with us in support of Network Neutrality, the principle that protects a free and open internet. Up until this point, Network Neutrality has been the guiding force that has allowed the internet to thrive as a deeply powerful tool of democracy and free expression of every kind.

As you well know, Washington is in the midst of a critical debate over whether Net neutrality will continue to be the principle by which utilize and legislate our citizens’ engagement with the Internet. In this debate, the Federal Communications Commission has the opportunity to send a powerful message in favor of an open and neutral Internet.

Opponents have suggested that a Network Neutrality rule would give the government too much power over the internet—allowing them to limit free speech on the internet. Nothing could be further from the truth. Without rules to prevent discrimination online, Internet service providers would be free to choose whose voices are more important and whose views will be heard. Network Neutrality promotes the widest possible dissemination of speech, by allowing democratically elected governments to be the stewards of the internet, not private corporations beholden to nobody.

The fight for Network Neutrality itself offers a shining example of online civic participation. Since it began more than three years ago, nearly two million Americans have signed petitions, reached out to their networks, and asked their members of Congress to get behind Network Neutrality. Most of this organizing has taken place online by a coalition of more than 850 groups (including SAIC Free Culture), and through MySpace and Facebook accounts, e-mail outreaches, Twitter feeds and independent blogs. People have been using the Internet to mobilize and build support for the Internet.

This new wave of political empowerment is the gathering force of a more engaged democracy, and it all relies upon our ability to freely access information when we go online. Whether you’re campaigning for a local candidate, participating in open-government forums, or organizing people in response to new legislation, Network Neutrality preserves the network’s greatest strength: giving everyone the chance to get informed, speak out and be heard.

Additionally, as students at a major art institution, we know intimately the inestimable value of free creative expression on the internet. As cultural producers, we will fight to protect our access to the vast diversity of information on the internet—as that information is our go-to source for the ingredients and inspiration for our creative endeavors. Also, we stand in support of Net Neutrality because the internet is increasingly the place where we share our creativity with the world. We see the internet as an exhibition space, and have come to believe that it is our right to use it to the fullest extent possible under our right to freedom of speech. We will interpret a failure to defend net neutrality as an active affront to artistic freedom.

It’s a mistake to assume that the Internet is already a space where free speech is protected and ensured. Under current law, or the lack thereof, Internet service providers can block Web sites, content, services or applications they don’t like. And they have, most notably when Comcast secretly interfered with users’ ability to access popular video, photo and music-sharing applications; when AT&T censored a political speech by the band Pearl Jam’s lead singer; and when Verizon blocked text messages between a pro-choice organization and its members. We cannot afford to believe that our most valued resource is safe unless we work to protect it under US law, once and for all.

And we are seeing more troubling behavior in the marketplace. Internet service providers have stated their intention to deploy discriminatory “deep packet inspection” technology that would allow them to monitor and control the Internet. This dangerous technology would give network providers unprecedented power over Internet users, and it presents a serious threat to online privacy.

We write this letter as representatives of a generation of artists and creative producers who will not stand to see the internet controlled by corporate interests the same way television and radio were before we were old enough to speak out. The FCC must take action now to affirmatively safeguard the free flow of information on the Web before it’s too late.

With many thanks and most sincerely,

Rebecca Gordon

Representative of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Students for Free Culture

http://saicfreeculture.wordpress.com/

saicfreeculture@gmail.com

SavetheInternet.com Coalition’s Talking Points about Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality — Outreach Talking Points

What Is Net Neutrality?

•    Network Neutrality — or Net Neutrality — is the guiding principle that ensures the free and open Internet.

•    Net Neutrality means no discrimination: It prevents Internet service providers from speeding up, slowing down or blocking Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.

•    Net Neutrality leaves Internet users in control of the Internet, so that you can go anywhere, read or watch anything, and access and share whatever you want via the Internet.

•    Net Neutrality has always been part of the Internet — ensuring a level playing field for all, and it’s why the Internet has been such a powerful engine for free speech, democratic participation and economic innovation.

•    The Internet is the future of communications, and we need to keep it open, available and affordable to all Americans. On the free and open Internet, any Web site could become a TV or radio station – there are no gatekeepers or barriers to entry.

Why Net Neutrality Now?

•    It’s time to make Net Neutrality the law once and for all. We have unprecedented support — a president who has called for Net Neutrality; a new pro-Net Neutrality chairman heading the FCC; support from congressional leaders; more than 1.6 million people who have written letters to Washington in support of Net Neutrality. We have incredible momentum, and with a final push we can make Net Neutrality the law.

•    The FCC is proposing new rules to fulfill President Obama’s promise to protect Net Neutrality. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced his plans to protect Net Neutrality on Oct 22.

•    We have new legislation in Congress – The Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009 (HR 3458) – that’s gaining supporters.

•    There is an urgent need for Net Neutrality to protect us from phone and cable company schemes to block the free flow of information online. These companies have already violated Net Neutrality many times. Now they’re talking about plans to “manage” and “filter” content in ways that pad their profit margins (already in the double digits), but that rob users of their choice of content.

•    Washington can’t afford to wait any longer: As all media move online, the phone and cable companies see your high-speed Internet connection as their new source of revenue, and they’re scrambling to kill Net Neutrality so they can inspect and filter content, block Web sites and applications they don’t like, and overcharge you for using the Web.

Fight Back Against Powerful Corporate Special Interests

•    The phone and cable companies that provide your Internet connection are pulling out all the stops against Net Neutrality. These companies (including AT&T, Verizon and Comcast) have spent more than $50 million to deploy an army of more than 500 lobbyists in Washington. They’re trying to kill Net Neutrality once and for all.

•    Companies like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner Cable want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won’t load at all. We have to send a strong and clear message that online discrimination will not be tolerated.

•    Internet service providers have already started blocking innovative applications that they view as unwanted competition. Without Net Neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV. Internet providers will decide which channels, content and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu.

•    With more media (TV, radio, phone service) shifting online, and the Internet affecting all areas of the economy, incentives for Internet providers to discriminate are increasing.

Net Neutrality is the beginning of a larger conversation on the future of the Internet

•    The larger goal is affordable and open Internet access for everyone, everywhere.

•    Net Neutrality recognizes that the Internet is an essential infrastructure for economic, social and political activity.

•    The question before us is whether the policies implemented by Congress and the FCC will serve the public interest or just the interests of a few big corporations.

•    At its core, this fight is about democracy – it’s about giving citizens the information and tools they need to hold their leaders accountable and shape the decisions affecting their lives.

SavetheInternet.com Coalition

•    Since we began our campaign, more than 1.6 million people have told Washington that we must make Net Neutrality the law. More than 850 organizations have signed on to the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, including every major consumer group, progressive and conservative leaders, small businesses and unions, bloggers and librarians.

•    If two million people tell Washington that we need to make Net Neutrality the law, we’ll send a resounding message that neither Congress nor the FCC will be able to ignore. This final push from supporters like you could put us over the top.

•    The coalition includes everyone from MoveOn.org to the Christian Coalition, the ACLU to the American Library Association. SavetheInternet.com takes no corporate or government money, period.

Visit http://www.savetheinternet.com/ for more information.

POSTED BY REH GORDON

FCC Comissioned report hails US Broadband “Slow and Expensive”

Arstechnica article by Nate Anderson

Line sharing best solution for slow, expensive US broadband

The FCC may have gotten more than it bargained for when it commissioned a huge report on broadband from Harvard researchers. The data is clear: regulated “open access” schemes, where telecoms and cable companies are forced to lease their lines to other companies, have been better for broadband than the US model…MORE

Posted by REH GORDON