{"id":42465,"date":"2014-05-05T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=42465"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:35:02","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:35:02","slug":"how-to-keep-the-internet-open-and-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/05\/how-to-keep-the-internet-open-and-free\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Keep the Internet Open and Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t Let Net Neutrality Become another Broken Promise<\/em><\/p>\n

Barack Obama told us there would be no compromise on Net neutrality. We heard him say it back in 2007, when he first was running for president.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to ensure [a] free and full exchange of information and that starts with an open Internet,\u201d he said in a speech at Google headquarters, the presidium of cyberspace. \u201cI will take a backseat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality, because once providers start to privilege some applications or websites over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out and we all lose. The Internet is perhaps the most open network in history and we have to keep it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it many more times. And defenders of Net neutrality believed him, that he would preserve Internet access for all, without selling out to providers like Verizon and Comcast who want to charge higher fees for speedier access \u2013 hustling more cash from those who can afford to buy a place at the front of the line. On this issue so important to democracy, they believed he would keep his word, would see to it that when private interests set upon the Internet like sharks to blood in the water, its fate would be in the hands of honest brokers who would listen politely to the pleas of the greedy, and then show them the door.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it turned out to be Washington\u2019s infamous revolving door. Last May, President Obama named Tom Wheeler to be FCC chairman. He had other choices, men or women whose loyalty was to the public, not to rich and powerful corporations. But Tom Wheeler had been one of Obama\u2019s top bundlers of campaign cash \u2013 both in 2008 and again in 2012, when he raised at least half a million dollars for the president\u2019s re-election. Like his proposed new rules for the Web, that put him at the front of the line.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Wheeler had been the top gun for both the National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), lobbyists for the cable and wireless industries. However we might try to imagine that he could quickly abandon old habits of service to his employers, that\u2019s not how Washington works. Business and government are now so intertwined that public officials and corporate retainers are interchangeable parts of what Chief Justice John Roberts might call \u201cthe gratitude machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remember the FCC chairman under George W. Bush? Michael Powell was no champion of Net neutrality then, and now he works for its evisceration as CEO of the NCTA, the cable industry\u2019s trade association, the same job Chairman Wheeler held three decades ago. Round and round they go, and where they stop \u2013 actually they never stop. They just flash their EZ Pass as they keep shuttling through that revolving door.<\/p>\n

Consider: Daniel Alvarez was a long-time member of a law firm that has advised Comcast. He once wrote to the FCC on behalf of that giant, arguing against Net neutrality rules. He\u2019s been hired by Tom Wheeler.<\/p>\n

Former Ambassador Phillip Verveer also worked for Comcast and the wireless and cable trade associations, both of which have opposed Net neutrality. He\u2019s now Tom Wheeler\u2019s senior counselor.<\/p>\n

Attorney Brendan Carr worked for Verizon and the telecom industry\u2019s trade association, which lobbied against Net neutrality. Now Brendan Carr is an adviser to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, who once described open Internet rules as a \u201csolution in search of a problem\u201d and used to be a top lawyer for Verizon.<\/p>\n

To be fair, Tom Wheeler has brought media reformers into the FCC, too, and has been telling us all that we don\u2019t understand \u2013 that we\u2019re the victims of \u201cmisinformation\u201d about the new rules \u2013 that he is still for Net neutrality. Possibly. But the public\u2019s no chump, and as you can see from just those few examples from the reporting of intrepid young journalist Lee Fang, those new rules are not the product of an immaculate conception. They were hatched in a place where industry midwives huddle around the cradle, waiting to privatize \u2014 sorry, baptize \u2014 the new arrival, and claim him for their own. Everyone else \u2014 nonprofit groups, startups, the smaller, independent content creators and everyday users \u2013 move to the rear. The Net will be neutral no more.<\/p>\n

President Obama could stiffen Tom Wheeler\u2019s spine with one phone call. That\u2019s not likely, given the broken promises that litter the White House grounds. But the FCC meets on May 15. Before then, you can send an e-mail to make your opinion known at openinternet@fcc.gov<\/a>. Or direct a tweet to Wheeler @TomWheelerFCC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the meeting, there will be a \u201cpublic comment\u201d period of 30 to perhaps 45 days before they start finalizing any new rules. \u00a0Speak up. You have a chance to tell both Obama and Wheeler what you think, so that the will of the people, not the power of money and predatory interests, is heard.<\/p>\n

____________________________<\/p>\n

Journalist Bill Moyers is the host of the new show Moyers & Company<\/a>, a weekly series of smart talk and new ideas aimed at helping viewers make sense of our tumultuous times through the insight of America\u2019s strongest thinkers.. His previous shows on PBS included NOW with Bill Moyers and Bill Moyers Journal. Over the past three decades he has become an icon of American journalism and is the author of many books, including Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues<\/a>, Moyers on Democracy<\/a>, and Bill Moyers: On Faith & Reason<\/a>. He was one of the organizers of the Peace Corps, a special assistant for Lyndon B. Johnson, a publisher of Newsday, senior correspondent for CBS News and a producer of many groundbreaking series on public television. He is the winner of more than 30 Emmys, nine Peabodys, three George Polk awards and is the author of three best-selling books.<\/em><\/p>\n

Michael Winship, senior writing fellow at Demos and president of the Writers Guild of America-East, is senior writer for Bill Moyers’ new weekend show Moyers & Company<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 commondreams.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t Let Net Neutrality Become another Broken Promise – Barack Obama told us there would be no compromise on Net neutrality. We heard him say it back in 2007, when he first was running for president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-whistleblowing-surveillance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}