Don't Let Congress Ruin the Internet Save Network Neutrality

 

Right now Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the First Amendment of the Internet -- a principle called "network neutrality" that preserves the free and open Internet. Congress needs to hear from you today or they will hand over control of what you do online to companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.

Politicians are trading favors for campaign donations from these companies. They're being wooed by people like AT&T's CEO, who says "the Internet can't be free." Sign this petition to tell your elected representatives to protect Internet freedom now. When you fill out the information and push submit, it will automatically send it to your Members of Congress.

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet
www.SavetheInternet.com

Also to maximize impact, please call your Representative and 2 U.S. Senators today at their Washington, D.C. and local offices to urge them to preserve Internet freedom by supporting Network Neutrality

asked how you heard about this issue, please be sure to reference our SavetheInternet.com Coalition—with over 400 organizations including MoveOn, Gun Owners of America², Craig from Craigslist, consumer organizations, and others.

If asked for specific bill information, you can urge Rep. Maloney to support "Rep. Ed Markey's Network Neutrality amendment to the COPE telecom law" when it comes up on the House floor—and to oppose any telecom law that doesn't include Markey's Internet freedom amendment.¹ In the Senate, the key proposal is the "bipartisan Snowe/Dorgan Internet Freedom Amendment to the COPE telecom law."

As companies like AT&T spend millions lobbying Congress for more control over what you see and do online, high-tech pioneers like Google, eBay, and Amazon fighting alongside our coalition. And just last week, the New York Times wrote a powerful editorial endorsing Net Neutrality. It said:

"Net neutrality" is a concept that is still unfamiliar to most Americans, but it keeps the Internet democratic. ... One of the Internet's great strengths is that a single blogger or a small political group can inexpensively create a Web page that is just as accessible to the world as Microsoft's home page. But this democratic Internet would be in danger if the companies that deliver Internet service changed the rules so that Web sites that pay them money would be easily accessible, while little-guy sites would be harder to access and slower to navigate. Providers could also block access to sites they do not like.³

This issue has dramatic consequences, the threat is real, and the time to act is now.