Freedom is not free.  If recent events in this country are not enough to convince you of that, then stay silent while Internet is taken over by the big guys who line the pockets of congressmen.  I trust that those who know how to hack and slice their way through these things electronically will come up with some kind of circumvention; however, that is illegal and we should not have to resort to "illegal" actions to access the freedoms we currently have left.  And those are dwindling mightily under this administration.

This is an election year.  Certain factions out there do not like the internet simply because it is wild and wooly and uncontrollable.  And despite the story that America is free, we have seen time and again under this administration a curtailment of freedoms in the name of "protection and security."  As if we could be secure in the world which American has helped create today! 

Look at who voted how.  Be careful which levers you pull in that election booth.  Make sure you are in a booth in order to pull a lever.  And before you do, ask yourself if you feel safer now.  And are better off economincally.  And do you elieve that big business and pocketed congressmen really have your best interests at heart.

InternetNews.com (and just about every blog I’ve read this morning) is abuzz with big business and Republicans in lock step to take away Net Neutrality (everyone who uses the Net has equal access).

InternetNews.com reports:

April 26, 2006
GOP Gets It Way on Net Neutrality
By Roy Mark

House Commerce Committee Republicans defeated an effort by Democrats today to strengthen network neutrality provisions in the panel’s telecom reform bill.

With four Democrats breaking ranks and joining the Republicans, the panel voted 34-22 to turn back an amendment by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) that would prohibit broadband providers from charging content and service providers different rates based on bandwidth consumption.

Markey said the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Efficiency Act of 2006 (COPE) as currently written would "fundamentally and detrimentally alter the Internet."

…Under COPE, the proposed business models of AT&T and Verizon to charge content providers an extra fee to deliver enhanced services to consumers would be permitted.

"If [the telcos] spend billions and billions of dollars to put a network into play and charge a fee to those who want to take advantage of these enhanced services, I think that’s a good thing," Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton said.

Barton added that under the Markey amendment, the broadband providers "can’t charge for those things. That lessens the possibility that they’ll even offer those things."

Rep. Anna Eschoo (D-Calif.), a co-sponsor of the Markey amendment, urged members to go online and "Listen to what users are saying [about COPE]. There’s a prairie fire out there and they are outraged. [The bill] would regulate and establish tolls on the Internet."

The third co-sponsor of the Markey amendment, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Vir.), said with COPE, "The handwriting is on the wall. [COPE] will allow business models to create a two-lane Internet. Companies in the slower lane will not be able to effectively compete with those in the fast lane."

Barton and other Republicans argued that COPE preserves the principles of network neutrality established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last August.

Those principles, though, deal with the rights of those on the consumer end of the broadband pipe. The FCC principles do not address the rights of content providers to use the Internet as an equal and open platform.

"If there are abuses in the future, we’ll identify them and take action," Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said. "[The Democrats’] premise is that this is a zero sum game, but there is no true definition of network neutrality. Under this bill, everyone is a winner and everyone will benefit."

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) was the sole Republican on the panel to vote in favor of Markey’s amendment.

"I’m concerned about the direction we’re going in here," she said. "[COPE] is a precedent setting solution that changes the way the Internet works."