Comments on: What Is Right in Oregon: Senator Vigorously Defends Net Neutrality

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:07:07 +0000

Thanks for the information, Monica. One of the great aspects of the internet, isn’t it, the harnessing of the grassroots movements.

By: Monica Burns

Monica Burns — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:05:38 +0000

Jane you can get more info at http://www.savetheinternet.com. They have a link that allows you to do a standard email to your legislators or modify it.

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:58:32 +0000

Miki - I think I’ll write more about it on Sunday (I always struggle for Sunday topics) and then we can toss around ideas but I think the letter writing campaign may be the thing.

I want to see what bills are to be voted on and who is for what, etc.

By: Miki

Miki — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:55:52 +0000

What are we to do, Jane? Is this something that needs a letter-writing campaign to our Senators and Representatives?

By: Bonnie L.

Bonnie L. — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:12:30 +0000

Thank you for bringing this to my attention! The thought that anyone would be able to limit the internet appalls me. Off to tell my friends about this.

By: Monica Burns

Monica Burns — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:28:54 +0000

ACK! Clicked too fast. I also meant to point out that some Inet users might have an ISP that would block their access to sites such as Dear Author unless the user either pays a higher fee for more open access or Dear Author makes an agreement with an ISP that has an agreement with one of the big telecommunication companies to open up the blog to anyone.

Monica (Edited) <–who clearly doesn’t understand that I could have edited the original post. Apologies

By: Monica Burns

Monica Burns — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:26:33 +0000

Jane, we must be on the same wave length! This is a topic I’m planning on blogging about tomorrow. As someone who’s already gone up against Comcast in protest of the way they force feed me advertising on my webmail, all while a) charging me for the service, and b) offering me lousy service in terms of the webmail product itself. NN is a HUGE deal that most people don’t realize will affect them until it’s too late.

Costs will go up substantially unless we halt telecommunication companies from charging higher fees for people to access the Inet or to host a site on the Inet. Most importantly, it’s the blocking of access to sites that irritates me the most. It also puts at risk the public’s right to express itself, it would suppress innovative third-party development, etc.

See this video on You Tube about Net Neutrality As a consumer this makes me mad as hell. As a writer the suppression of public expression deeply concerns me.

This issue affects everyone who has Inet access, and the more people cry out about it to our legislators, the better the odds are we can keep our access as open as possible with minimal costs, especially when the pipe these companies have laid was already there to begin with.

Verizon is the only company who might have a leg to stand on when it comes to stating they’ve high costs for laying fiber optic cable, but they’ve been give plenty of tax breaks for years in preparation for the installation of fiber optic and yet I just had fiber optic cable installed in my well-populated area.

Thanks for raising awareness about this issue on your highly-visible blog.

Monica