Dear American,
Earlier this year, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that will radically change the way citizens interact on and with the Internet.
The Court ruled that the FCC’s ‘net neutrality’ regulations were illegal. Essentially, net neutrality is the concept that individuals should have free access to all web content. Free, in this instance, does not necessarily mean ‘free of charge.’ While that is certainly the direction that the Internet is heading, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are still allowed to charge users to access the Internet.
Net neutrality means that ISPs are not allowed to block access to certain websites while giving preferential treatment to others; it means that internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon are not allowed to charge users to access popular websites; and it means that these companies are not allowed to redirect your web traffic to a competitor’s site.
All that is gone now… Internet providers like Comcast are now allowed to block or throttle access to a website for any reason at all, and that is exactly what they are doing with websites like Netflix.
Your tax dollars went into developing the Internet and you pay monthly to be able to access it. Now, Internet companies have the authority to charge you even more to access certain content!
This will have dangerous implications on the conservative movement, especially because Comcast owns NBC and MSNBC. Imagine trying to access Fox News or the Drudge Report and all of a sudden you are redirected to MSNBC instead…
And it makes complete business sense from Comcast’s perspective… Why would Comcast want its customers to consume news from a direct competitor? If Comcast doesn’t block Fox News entirely, it also has the power to throttle that access and make it take hours just to load the website!
While the Court of Appeals struck down the Federal Communication Commission’s regulation, the FCC is supposed to be neutral on the matter and do what is in the best interest of the people. To date, the FCC has received over a MILLION public comments explaining why net neutrality must be restored.
But just this week, we learned that Comcast was spending $110,000 to host a dinner in honor of Mignon Clyburn, one of the current FCC Commissioners.
They aren’t even trying to be sneaky about it… Comcast – one of the companies lobbying the FCC to decide in its favor – is openly bribing one of the agency’s commissioners.
It is bad enough that Comcast employs FORTY different lobbying firms to pressure government officials to do its bidding, but now they are spending a small fortune to “honor” an FCC Commissioner.
It may be legal, but it is still scummy!
But this is about more than maintaining free and unimpeded access to content on the Internet. This is about protecting new start-up companies and allowing the economy to grow. If the Court’s ruling stands, Internet providers will be allowed to charge companies for ‘preferential treatment.’ If the company agrees to pay the extortion money, users will be able to access their website as fast as possible. However, the opposite will be true for the companies that refuse to pay up…
All in all, the death of Net Neutrality represents one of the biggest threats to the American economy.
I am sure that many of you are taking the opposite approach, arguing that government regulation is horrible and must be avoided at all costs. I am inclined to agree that over-regulation is dangerous, but to say that Internet companies should have complete control over what sites you are allowed to access is unacceptable! I am against 99.9% of regulation, but this is one regulation that absolutely must exist!
Listen, I agree that government is often heavy-handed in its regulatory approach. But at least We the People have a way to petition our government for a redress of grievances. That right is protected under the First Amendment. But have you ever tried to petition Comcast or one of the other Internet providers?
I just watched a YouTube video of a man who called Comcast to cancel his Internet service and he was put on hold for so long that the customer service office actually closed for the day! They left him on the phone, on hold, and they all packed up and went home for the day.
If Comcast and the other Internet service providers are allowed this control over the Internet, there will be no turning back… You and millions of other patriots have petitioned the FCC and Congress to uphold and defend net neutrality.
And now, instead of listening to the people, the FCC is allowing Comcast to host a $110,000 dinner/bribe to honor one of the agencies commissioners!
This is cronyism and it must be stopped! Not only that, but it is entirely fixable. All Congress needs to do is pass the Open Internet Preservation Act and this whole problem goes away. Comcast and the other Internet providers are trying to buy and bribe their way into getting what they want, all while trying to silence you! We must join together as one and fight back against this scheme!
Sincerely,
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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