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MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet — Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

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AT&T and BellSouth Have Already Said So

I’m not political. I don’t ask people to do things for causes. This not a cause. This is an emergency. The merger was almost approved this week. The AT&T-BellSouth merger hands over incredible power. THE MERGER ESTABLISHES A A DE FACTO MA BELL DSL MONOPOLY IN 23 STATES, that is to say new enterprise would be the principal or the only provider available.

The Judiciary Committee has already approved the deal, avoiding a court review. The FCC came close to letting it go through this week, but postponed their response at the last minute, because of letters from people like us.

We’ve got about two weeks to stop what they’ve already said they will do.

According to the Washington Post:

William L. Smith, chief technology officer for Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp., told reporters and analysts that an Internet service provider such as his firm should be able, for example, to charge Yahoo Inc. for the opportunity to have its search site load faster than that of Google Inc.

He’s not alone. Ed Whitacre of AT&T told Business Week last fall:

Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain’t going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it. So there’s going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they’re using. Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?

[via Savetheinternet.com]

Sir Tim Berners-Lee said the following in the New YorkTimes article “Neutrality’ Is New Challenge for Internet Pioneer an Interview on Net Neutrality with Sir Tim Berners-Lee” By JOHN MARKOFF Published: September 27, 2006.

. . . if the United States ends up faltering in its quest for Net neutrality, I think the rest of the world will be horrified, and there will be very strong pressure from other countries who will become a world separate from the U.S., where the Net is neutral. If things go wrong in the States, then I think the result could be that the United States would then have a less-competitive market where content providers could provide a limited selection of all the same old movies to their customers because they have a captive market.

Meanwhile, in other countries, you’d get a much more dynamic and much more competitive market for television over the Internet. So that you’d end up finding that the U.S. would then fall behind and become less competitive until they saw what was going on and fixed it. I just hope we don’t have to go through a dark period, a little dark ages while people experiment with dropping Net neutrality and then, perhaps, put it back.

Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

Since Wednesday, when the Department of Justice gave their blessing to the AT&T BellSouth merger, more than 20,000 people sent letters to the FCC asking for a Net Neutrality condition to be written into the merger.

freepress.com says this above the letter.

Don’t Let Ma Bell Monopolize the Internet
The AT&T and BellSouth merger would resurrect the Ma Bell monopoly that ruled communications for decades. But this new corporate behemoth would no longer control just phone calls. The new AT&T wants to become gatekeepers to all digital media — television, telephone and Internet — at the expense of the free and open Internet that so many Americans rely upon.

Send a letter by clicking the logo below. It takes only seconds.

Stop the Ma Bell Giveaway

I’ve been following this story since March 18, 2006 when I wrote this piece about Doc Searls and Walter Cronkite. This is the first time I have asked anyone to act . . . Now is the time when you need to. One more letter could tilt the balance.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
Net Neutrality I
Net Neutrality II

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Comments

  5. Hi Liz — I’m back (as you can see) — I sent my message — I like having the ready-made message, but I added a little note of my own at the top.

    Everyday there’s another something to worry about. I’m getting sick of it. But I guess it would be worse if we didn’t find out about these things until it was too late to do anything.

    You know I read your Net Neutrality posts every single morning. But somedays I just can’t make myself talk about it. I’m very glad you aren’t as weak as me.

    Reply

  7. Ah, Katie,
    Don’t be tough on you, you’re my friend. I wouldn’t like that. 🙂

    It took a long time to get me moved to action. So I’m no Joan of Arc here. It was just time for me to say something out loud. That’s all.

    Reply

  9. Mark — I agree with the question. That’s why I added my own little bit to the top of the message. But, I didn’t change the bulk of it. Because I thought it was actually very well written.

    And it seemed meant to be a shared message.

    Reply

  16. I think that what is scarier is that they’ve got better marketing this time around. Last time, they were sleazier and more open about it, this time they’re all about ‘the good of the customer’ or some other jargon.

    And they’ve got better, flashier logos too. Another wee little thing that is good for suckering in another idiot. Of course, hopefully, it all comes crashing down on them.

    They can’t really control all of the Internet that we have access too, not if the cable lines are far more divided and if we have VOIP access. No, they’re just not going to be half as succesful as they were during their reign of power.

    And god knows, they might not even get this one approved. Who knows.

    I’m anticipating the future on this issue. It isn’t an emergency, we don’t need telephones or internet access, these things are LUXURIES. Use the god damned postal system if you wanna be this bitchy about your glass house, or use a library if you want information for free.

    Shit, I’m not a scientist, but I can tell you that you don’t need the Internet and you don’t need cell phones and you don’t need telephones or even cars. Luxuries, folks, luxuries. Don’t bitch and move thehelloutta suburbia, thanks.

    Also, remember independent newspapers and reading something not on a jittery computer terminal screen? Ah-those were the days….

    When people actively participated in reality, and ignored their televisions. Of course, those things are gone and we’re all idiots now.

    Reply

  19. Hi Andrew,
    I agree with a lot of what you’re saying, though I do think they’ve been pretty open in one — see the quotes they’ve using to see whether the public will let them get away with doing what they want. I also agree that much the “bad blogger press” of the past year has been a smoke screen to take everyone’s eyes off net neutrality.

    Don’t be so sure of VoiP either. They’re lobbying hard to make that a nonisuse for them.

    About 2/3 down I got thinking you must have a really good job. You see, you’ve forgotten about the folks who DO need the internet — small internet businesses who’s only storefront is online, who provide goods and service to people all over the world through their contact on the internet. People like, me, who meet with clients and sometimes teach them via email. People who give webinars for a living. Some folks can’t replace the internet with a stamp and a library.

    So though I’m you, I want you with us too. Please don’t leave us behind in the shuffle. I need to eat and have a place to live and bandwidth is how I’m planning on doing that right now. 🙂

    Thanks so much, Andrew, for adding to the conversation. You’re not a stranger here anymore. You’re a friend now.

    Reply

  21. Hi Manoj,
    I hear the wisdom of your metaphor and hope for the world economy that the metaphor does not apply here. What’s happening will not affect only Americans, but it will take Americans out of the International Internet — not only as sellers, but also as buyers. The system will be out of whack.

    Would it recover? Surely it would. But with how much harm and to how many?

    Thank you for your kind wish for a healthy finish. 🙂

    Reply

  22. How would the telco’s handle Tor and similar clients that degeography IP traffic? An outright ban on anominizers under the guise of national security/anti-porn seems most likely. Still a ban would undresses the arguement that they aren’t filtering and upcharging their own customers.

    Reply

  23. Hi Balthazar3n!
    Welcome.
    And when they do what you describe, they’re getting into tricky copyright areas. The very reason the television providers don’t get sued for TV programs is that that don’t edit or filter them.

    Reply

  28. Thanks for the link. Also, there is some indication that an actual paper letter, signed and hand posted, are very effective in addition to electronic media. On this issue, I think overkill is more than justified.

    My plan is to print out the letter and mail it as well as submitting from the website. One to Dick Shelby is already on the way.

    Everyone’s senators’ and representatives’ addresses can be found at:
    http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

    Reply

  29. gah! It’s not over. We are seeing the CRTC up here in Canada take a very lax approach. Basically letting the market decide. And we know what the Bell’s and the big Communication firms want. To charge for their pipes.

    Reply

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