i just received this email form the eBay ceo. these corporate pig fuckers are really going to do everything in their power to stop net neutrality. so we must do all we can to stop them, you can sign to voice yourself on the link in the letter.
As you know, I almost never reach out to you personally with a request to get involved in a debate in the U.S. Congress. However, today I feel I must.
Right now, the telephone and cable companies in control of Internet access are trying to use their enormous political muscle to dramatically change the Internet. It might be hard to believe, but lawmakers in Washington are seriously debating whether consumers should be free to use the Internet as they want in the future.
Join me by clicking here -- http://www.ebaymainstreet.com/netneutrality -- to send a message to your representatives in Congress.
The phone and cable companies now control more than 95% of all Internet access. These large corporations are spending millions of dollars to promote legislation that would allow them to divide the Internet into a two-tiered system.
The top tier would be a "Pay-to-Play" high-speed toll-road restricted to only the largest companies that can afford to pay high fees for preferential access to the Net.
The bottom tier -- the slow lane -- would be what is left for everyone else. If the fast lane is the information "super-highway," the slow lane will operate more like a dirt road.
Today's Internet is an incredible open marketplace for goods, services, information and ideas. We can't give that up. A two-lane system will restrict innovation because start-ups and small companies -- the companies that can't afford the high fees -- will be unable to succeed, and we'll lose out on the jobs, creativity and inspiration that come with them.
The power belongs with Internet users, not the big phone and cable companies. Let's use that power to send as many messages as possible to our elected officials in Washington. Please join me by clicking here right now to send a message to your representatives in Congress before it is too late. You can make the difference.
Thank you for reading this note. I hope you'll make your voice heard today.
Sincerely,
Meg Whitman
President and CEO
eBay Inc.
P.S. If you have any questions about this issue, please contact us at government_relations@ebay.com.
UPDATE: NET NEUTRALITY - PLEASE READ! PLEASE HELP!
yes of course she wants to keep it, yes that is good. she wants all of us to contact our local congressman and do our part. so get on it and help out before it is all to late. there are beady eyed creepy men right now in washington lobbying for the major cable companies to ban network neutrality. these are your senators and congressman that are being approached. basically they want the web to be more like cable tv. what are your favorite websites? well kiss most of them good bye and good luck downloading big files from independant sites
I agree.D DAS wrote:yes of course she wants to keep it, yes that is good. she wants all of us to contact our local congressman and do our part. so get on it and help out before it is all to late. there are beady eyed creepy men right now in washington lobbying for the major cable companies to ban network neutrality. these are your senators and congressman that are being approached. basically they want the web to be more like cable tv. what are your favorite websites? well kiss most of them good bye and good luck downloading big files from independant sites
I'm in the UK, I'll need to dig a little deeper to find out how I can help.
From what I understand of the situation (which is limited) if you are in the US you can write to your government representative to express your unhappiness with the proposed legislation.
If you are in the UK (robin) you can't do anything. Don't forget who the World Police are. There is nothing we can do.
However, if the legislation comes into force and the cable companies get their way, one answer to it is to move all of the servers in America to the UK or other European countries, where the legislation doesn't affect us. This way, the companies can't dictate who gets preference.
This is my understanding, if any one knows any more, please share...
If you are in the UK (robin) you can't do anything. Don't forget who the World Police are. There is nothing we can do.
However, if the legislation comes into force and the cable companies get their way, one answer to it is to move all of the servers in America to the UK or other European countries, where the legislation doesn't affect us. This way, the companies can't dictate who gets preference.
This is my understanding, if any one knows any more, please share...
Computer Games don't affect our kids
If they affected us as kids, we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music
If they affected us as kids, we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music
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Meef Chaloin
- Posts: 2164
- Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:09 pm
here, here. Also, I bet that my spam filter would autodelete anything coming from ebay personnel other than an end-of-auction email...Meef Chaloin wrote:what makes you think that even if you had a petition with a billion names that it would make any difference?
How many people around the world protested about Iraq...
What are you, government agents?!?!?
How could you encourage apathy, fear, and laziness?!?!?
What happened with Iraq happened because not enough Americans did something about it, not because it was ineffectual for millions of people around the world to protest. The American government doesn't give a shit what the people of the world think, but if enough Americans do something about it, then things in America will change. The proposed legislation mentioned in the form letter above is legislation proposed in America, so it doesn't matter what anyone in the UK, or anywhere else, thinks about it - except to the extent that people outside the US can influence US public opinion.
When you say that there is nothing you can do, you oppress every person in a democratic society. No thanks.
How could you encourage apathy, fear, and laziness?!?!?
What happened with Iraq happened because not enough Americans did something about it, not because it was ineffectual for millions of people around the world to protest. The American government doesn't give a shit what the people of the world think, but if enough Americans do something about it, then things in America will change. The proposed legislation mentioned in the form letter above is legislation proposed in America, so it doesn't matter what anyone in the UK, or anywhere else, thinks about it - except to the extent that people outside the US can influence US public opinion.
When you say that there is nothing you can do, you oppress every person in a democratic society. No thanks.
Call me cynical, but the american government doesn't give a shit about what americans think, either. They laid down their plans to do what they felt they needed to do in Iraq, and did them. The several months ahead of time were about shifting public opinion, but when a million people showed up in NYC to protest, I think it became quite clear that these plans were going to be executed regardless of how successful their PR campaign was.ethios4 wrote:What are you, government agents?!?!?
How could you encourage apathy, fear, and laziness?!?!?
What happened with Iraq happened because not enough Americans did something about it, not because it was ineffectual for millions of people around the world to protest. The American government doesn't give a shit what the people of the world think, but if enough Americans do something about it, then things in America will change. The proposed legislation mentioned in the form letter above is legislation proposed in America, so it doesn't matter what anyone in the UK, or anywhere else, thinks about it - except to the extent that people outside the US can influence US public opinion.
When you say that there is nothing you can do, you oppress every person in a democratic society. No thanks.
And for the record, I think that the US giving up control of ICANN will ultimately have a larger impact on the freedom of the internet.
further reading for those interested...
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
I have a freind in DC who is very involved- he says we're probably going to loose the battle
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
I have a freind in DC who is very involved- he says we're probably going to loose the battle
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Meef Chaloin
- Posts: 2164
- Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:09 pm
dont get me wrong, its not that i disagree with the cause (far from it) but i think you have no idea what you are fighting. Im not encouraging apathy, fear or lazyness (your government does a good job of that) but i think you you are living a dream if you think your government cares at all about you or that it is even remotely democratic. Your president cheated his way in to a term twice, call that democracy?ethios4 wrote:What are you, government agents?!?!?
How could you encourage apathy, fear, and laziness?!?!?
When you say that there is nothing you can do, you oppress every person in a democratic society. No thanks.
Machiavelli wrote a great example of how rulers see their people. Think about how many areas of society this would benefit....movie industry, music industry, governments. This is BIG money and will make or break (or rather enable survival) of some of the biggest business in the world. Telling your congressman will not achieve anything, sure they may bring it up but how many of congress have tried to penetrate the black projects or have had their decisions overruled by presidents?
Why do wars still carry on despite massive percentages of populations being opposed to them & seeing them for what they really are? why is israel still bombing when the whole world can see that they are being barbaric? because some people make a lot of money out of it & if you think that telling your local representative will change this then you're very wrong. Democracy is an illusion, especially in the US. Governance is business.
If they want this to happen they will make it happen simple as that, nothing to do with apathy. They will probably do it gradually so it appears to be something other than it is (possibly a huge virus or something?) but it will happen.
I hope you're right though, i hope it doesnt happen. But then Im hoping war with iran doesnt happen. sometimes its naive to hope.
But this should not lead to unawareness even in our european neighbourhood. Let me tell a short example:band-x wrote:If you are in the UK (robin) you can't do anything.
Few months ago german telco market leader Telekom (former state-owned enterprise) announced firing of about 20.000 employees. But they stated, in a unmasked act of blackmail, that they would hire 6.000 if the government would guarantee closed access to the "new hispeed broadband nets" and some lawful adjustments - meaning that competitors would have no chance to enter the market* (*simplified story).
About six weeks later german chancelor Merkel announced: german government will invest about 6 billion (mrd) euros in "new hispeed broadband nets" to push the related business...
We might not be able to change US politics but we can try to avoid this style in our countries. Hopefully.