Is a Washington takeover of the Internet next?

The message below is from an email by Phil Kerpen, Director of Policy, Americans for Prosperity and Chairman, The Internet Freedom Coalition. Mr. Kerpen was on Glenn Beck’s program on Fox News last night.

“As important as all the fights are that we’re in right now, perhaps the biggest of all is the fight over whether the government will take over the Internet.  That’s because as long as the Internet is free, we can use it to communicate, educate, and organize.  Tea parties, townhalls, and AFP events would be very difficult to organize if government owned and controlled the Internet and chose to interfere with it.  That’s what’s at stake this week as the Federal Communications Commission decides on Thursday whether to move forward with so-called “net neutrality” regulations.

“The net neutrality movement is an outgrowth of the larger so-called media reform project of radical left-wing activists like Robert McChesney who seek to destroy private control of the country’s communications systems…

“…Net neutrality sounds simple–force phone and cable companies to treat every bit of information the same way–until you realize that modern networks are incredibly complex, with millions of lines of code in every router.  Making sure services like VoIP, video conferencing, and telemedicine (not to mention the next great thing that hasn’t been invented yet) get priority may be necessary to make the Internet work. But the government is working to do just the opposite.

“These networks cost billions of dollars to build and maintain, and if there is uncertainty whether there will be a good return on that investment, private investment will dry up.  And then government will step in, spending billions of our tax dollars on a government-owned and controlled Internet.

“That’s their plan.

“The push for a Washington takeover of the Internet is coming from the White House.  It includes Susan Crawford, the so-called Internet Czar, who told The Wall Street Journal in April that the $7.2 billion of stimulus money for broadband she is helping spend is a “down payment on future government investments in the Internet.”  She went on to say: “We should do a better job as a nation of making sure fast, affordable broadband is as ubiquitous as electricity, water, snail mail or any other public utility.”

“It comes right from the top.  President Obama himself said on the campaign trail: “I will take a backseat to no one in my commitment to Net Neutrality.”

“The FCC will vote Thursday on what it calls a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Net Neutrality.  If it passes, it will start a public comment period and I’ll be emailing you again with instructions on how to file comments.  But for the next couple days, we need to make our case against the FCC even taking that first step down the road to a Washington takeover of the Internet. 

“Here’s what you can do to help: The FCC created a website at www.OpenInternet.gov where you can comment on government regulating the Internet under so-called net neutrality rules.  The left has been flooding it with comments.  Please take a moment to head over to www.OpenInternet.gov and click on “Join the Discussion” to make your voice heard for keeping the Internet in private hands…”

Everyone at CAJ has been to the website to register our comments about this further threat to our First Amendment rights. We hope that you, too, will take action on this matter.

UPDATE: This morning on Twitter, Mr. Kerpen wrote:

FCC said today Google will be exempt from Net Neutrality regs. Must be nice to be friends with Obama.

I recommend Lakely’s paper: Neutralism: The Strange Philosophy Behind the Movement for Net Neutrality http://bit.ly/3u32xR (PDF)

CAJ would suggest you research the connection between the President and the founder of Google.com to fully understand, if you don’t already, what Phil is referring to.

 

Comments are closed.

Categories