Net neutrality

HoZ · #1 May 11th, 2006, 10:37 AM

I bet some of you have heard of this...

I have started a petition against the Government screwing with the internet

here it is

http://www.petitiononline.com/ratfg198/petition.html

Please read this and sign if you agree.

And spred the word!

sinclair_tm · #2 May 11th, 2006, 03:46 PM

and what exalctly are you trying to stop? you have no info at all. please include detailed decription of what the gov is wanting to do, and why you think it should be stopped. in addtion, include links to sites that have info on the gov's stand, and that support your point of view.

Rhisiart · #3 May 11th, 2006, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sinclair_tm

and what exalctly are you trying to stop? you have no info at all. please include detailed decription of what the gov is wanting to do, and why you think it should be stopped. in addtion, include links to sites that have info on the gov's stand, and that support your point of view.

Exactly. No-one is going to sign up for something they have no info about. Perhaps someone is just goofing around.

Mikuro · #4 May 11th, 2006, 07:13 PM

There's been talk about charging companies for "express lanes" on the Internet, so, for example, Google and Microsoft would get priority to ensure that their sites were always fast.

It's bull.

I don't have any links on hand. I've only read about it on dead trees so far.

dmetzcher · #5 May 11th, 2006, 09:43 PM

They've been talking about this on This Week in Tech for several weeks now.

That said, online petitions are a complete waste of time. Any time someone says, "Please sign my Web-based petition, I politely find a way to change the conversation." They simply don't work, no matter how many signatures you get, because the vast majority of Congress has no idea how the Internet works. They also tend to be able to avoid it altogether, and will never see your petition. No news agencies will pick it up, either. Also, it's simply too easy to get a thousand signatures from people who don't even exist. Petitions work at the local level (and we are talking about pen and paper petitions), because the names can be verified and the addresses are known to the local government officials.

I'm only saying this because your time, if you really care about certain issues, is better spent making a few phone calls, and trying to get others to make a few phone calls. If you want to throw up a Web site, go ahead, and you can drive people to it, but it's much easier to try to direct people toward a site that already exists and already supports your ideas. I would check out the EFF (eff.org) Web site to see if they have something on this. Driving people to their site ensures that everyone can access similar information, and the EFF is good about telling you which member of Congress you can call and complain to.