save the Internet?

**Kyle** · 06-09-2006, 03:17 PM

What do you all think of this? The link goes right to the FAQ so you can read exactly what's going on.

http://www.savetheinternet.com/=faq

**Cutter** · 06-09-2006, 08:52 PM

Well, it doesn't matter now the network neutrality portion of the bill got voted off earlier today. I think this is a bigger issue to bandwidth intensive media sites than to the average publisher.

**KLB** · 06-09-2006, 09:24 PM

Well Senator Snowe one of the co-sponsors of the Internet neutrality bill praised on the afore mentioned site is my senator so I wrote her thanking her for her efforts and encouraged her to keep up the fight. Being that Maine is a small state population wise, its a lot easier for our voices to be heard with our Senators. Of course the flip side is we have only one Representative so the will of our state doesn't matter in the House.

The big Internet service providers (e.g. TimeWarner and Verison) have been blanketing our TV with anti-neutrality ads via their fancy sounding front organizations.

Chris may not like politics, but I think everyone on this website is in the same boat with this issue. If we do not lobby our congress men/women on this issue many of us might find our choosen method of making a living much harder as we have to start paying tolls not only to our hosting providers but also to countless Internet service providers so that they will deliver our services to their customers without interuption or delay.

**John** · 06-10-2006, 01:38 AM

I feel so helpless on this issue, I live in Canada so my opinion doesn't matter to US Senators but the outcome of their decisions will dramatically effect my livelihood. If anyone has any ideas on what I can do to help please give me some ideas.

**wintergreen** · 06-10-2006, 04:06 AM

Originally Posted by John

I feel so helpless on this issue, I live in Canada so my opinion doesn't matter to US Senators but the outcome of their decisions will dramatically effect my livelihood. If anyone has any ideas on what I can do to help please give me some ideas.

One thing that many of us can do is put up one of the banners on our sites. At least, most everyone could put up the smaller button.

http://www.savetheinternet.com/=swag

Some other things to do are giving it a mention on your sites. If you have a forum, bring it up there. Give people the link where they can sign the petition.

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet

**AndyH** · 06-10-2006, 05:34 AM

Am I the only one not really worried about this? The simple truth is there is practically nothing we can do anyhow.

**KLB** · 06-10-2006, 07:22 AM

Originally Posted by AndyH

Am I the only one not really worried about this? The simple truth is there is practically nothing we can do anyhow.

This is what the big ISPs are hoping we think so that they can create their own faux grassroots campaign to defeat Internet neutrality and then gain control of the medium.

I saw one proposal the other day that tried to find some middle ground that I thought was a really good idea. It set a broadband speed definition for broadband and suggested that Internet neutrality be capped at this level. This would allow ISPs to create mega fast connections that could offer dedicated services via the mega fast connection but that other Internet traffic would still be protected to the "normal" broadband speeds. In a way this gives everyone a little of what they wanted.

The proposal could go further and state that ISPs could not advertise that they offer Internet connection speeds any faster than their maximum Internet neutral speeds.

**wintergreen** · 06-10-2006, 10:06 AM

There is actually a lot that webmasters as a group can do. If you were to count all of the webmasters that frequent Sitepoint, WebmasterWorld, and WebsitePublisher.net, you would talking about thousands of sites with an audience of a few million Americans. We have a lot of potential power, and it's not a matter of needing thousands of activists undertaking time-consuming projects. It is just a matter of putting up a link on your site, preferably with a quick editorial about it, that will take people to the online petition. Let people know that your site and others like it may not exist in the future if this issue is ignored.

We have so much potential to make a massive impact quickly with minimal effort.

**KLB** · 06-10-2006, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by wintergreen

We have so much potential to make a massive impact quickly with minimal effort.

Indeed. Web publishers should provide links to SaveTheInternet.com and write to the Congress persons from our state asking them to support net neutrality. We are the true grassroots and we have the ability to bring a great deal of pressure upon Congress without spending a lot of money.

**fatnewt** · 06-11-2006, 07:41 PM

Originally Posted by John

I feel so helpless on this issue, I live in Canada so my opinion doesn't matter to US Senators but the outcome of their decisions will dramatically effect my livelihood.

I'm in the same boat.

Ken, you mentioned that the ISPs were promoting anti-neutrality on TV. What's their spin to make that look good?

**KLB** · 06-11-2006, 07:58 PM

The ads spin the issue that big corporations like Google and Micrsoft are trying to force Net neutrality on consumers, which would stifle innovation. These ads are produced and paid for by an organization that's name sounds like some warm and fuzzy consumer oriented grassroots effort.

**demosfen** · 06-12-2006, 07:01 AM

These ads are complete BS, but they are carefully crafted and targeted at people who have no clue, and they work unfortunately. The marketing agencies that make them get good $$ for their job. Doesn't seem like grassroots movement made much difference so far, perhaps a DDOS attack against verizon.com would be more efficient?

Reminded me of pharma industry/FDA crackdown on imports of cheaper Canadian drugs under pretense of protecting public from potentially unsafe drugs not inspected by FDA (often made in the same facility). Do they all hire the same marketing firm?

**Westech** · 06-12-2006, 11:24 AM

I've been following this issue for a while, but this post and the linked website just spurred me into finally writing my senator and representative. If something isn't done this could turn out very badly for anyone who makes their living online - not only publishers but hosting providers, application service providers, and software companies who rely on the net to deliver content and updates.

**John** · 06-12-2006, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by demosfen

These ads are complete BS, but they are carefully crafted and targeted at people who have no clue, and they work unfortunately. The marketing agencies that make them get good $$ for their job. Doesn't seem like grassroots movement made much difference so far, perhaps a DDOS attack against verizon.com would be more efficient?

Reminded me of pharma industry/FDA crackdown on imports of cheaper Canadian drugs under pretense of protecting public from potentially unsafe drugs not inspected by FDA (often made in the same facility). Do they all hire the same marketing firm?

I'd like to meet the guy with enough bandwidth to take down verizon.

**demosfen** · 06-12-2006, 02:07 PM

I informed Verizon that I will be cancelling service unless they stop lobbying the Congress. As I send them a $100 check every month, they even bothered to reply. Basically they deny everything. I am not going to reproduce their letter because you can get your own copy by writing them. It's just a paraphrase of their ad campaigns. They did mention Stymie, the guy who banned me from Sitepoint -

"...the effort to force these regulations on to telecommunications reform legislation under the soothing language of 'neutrality' could stymie efforts to pass the 'consumer choice' franchise reform measure in Congress."

I don't think the future of small web publishing is very bright in long term. Am pondering the idea of setting up organic farm in upstate as a backup source of income.