Member Avatar for pulse

I finished posting it as a post on my blog but I could not find this topic being covered in here so here we go (apologies if I used the wrong keywords and could not find it).

I dunno if you read this open letter from Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google asking the support to AdSense Publishers to contact their congress representative against the new bill which will allow phone companies to charge for faster access to certain sites!

Here’s the whole letter —

Dear AdSense Publisher,

There’s a debate heating up in Washington, DC on something called “net neutrality” – and the outcome of this debate may very well impact your business. Therefore, we are taking the unprecedented steps of calling your attention to this looming crisis and asking you to get involved.

Sometime in the next few days, the House of Representatives is going to vote on a bill that would fundamentally alter the Internet. That bill would give the big phone and cable companies the power to choose what you will be able to see and do on the Internet.

Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody – no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional – has equal access to everyone else. On the Internet, a business doesn’t need the network’s permission to communicate with a customer or deploy an innovative new service. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all broadband Internet access, want the power to choose who gets onto the high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest. They want to build tollbooths to block the on-ramps for those whom they don’t want to compete with and who can’t pay this new Internet tax. Money and monopoly, not ideas and independence, will be the currency of their Internet.

Under the proposed “pay-to-play” system, small- and medium-sized businesses will be placed at an automatic disadvantage to their larger competitors. Those who cannot afford the new Internet tax – or who want to compete directly with the phone and cable companies – will be marginalized by slower Internet access that will inevitably make their sites less accessible, and therefore less appealing.

Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight. Imagine an Internet in which your access to customers is constrained by your ability to cut a deal with the carriers. Please call your representative in Congress at 202-224-3121. For more information on the issue, and more ways to make your voice be heard, visit www.ItsOurNet.org.

Thank you for your time, your concern and your support.

Eric Schmidt
CEO of Google Inc.

P.S. — If you are unsure of who represents you in Congress, you can look them up by zip code at http://www.house.gov. And if you would like to stay informed about this issue, and other policy issues affecting Google, you can opt-in to our policy mailing list at (powered by Google Groups).

If you are in a position to help, i.e. are a US citizen, then do so by any means! It is very important that his stupid bill be rejected as it hurts our livelihood!

  • 2 Contributors
  • 1 Reply
  • 272 Views
  • 1 Week Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Dani

Dani AI

Generated

As noted, Eric Schmidt’s June 2006 appeal asked AdSense publishers to weigh in on an urgent net‑neutrality fight. The key floor action that week was H.R. 5252 (the COPE Act): the House passed the bill on June 8, 2006 after the Markey‑Boucher‑Eshoo‑Inslee amendment (which would have banned service‑tiering/“fast lanes”) failed — a result many interpreted as a setback for explicit protections against paid prioritization. H.R. 5252 — COPE Act (Congress.gov) | WIRED: U.S. House Rejects Net Neutrality Amendment. (congress.gov)

Why this matters for small publishers: allowing ISPs to sell prioritized access or to degrade competing traffic creates a two‑tier distribution system where deep‑pocketed sites can buy faster delivery and smaller sites see lower reach, fewer pageviews, and less ad revenue. Testimony and hearings since then repeatedly raised that exact economic risk for startups, small businesses, libraries and schools. For an official summary of those concerns, see the Senate hearing record on why net neutrality matters. Senate hearing: Why Net Neutrality Matters (govinfo). (govinfo.gov)

Practical, short guidance for publishers who want to act (straightforward, repeatable, and useful to mention when contacting a representative): say who you are and include a one‑sentence impact (example: “I run a small ad‑supported site that depends on predictable traffic; paid prioritization would reduce my audience and revenue.”), ask the rep to oppose any measure that permits paid prioritization or discriminatory service‑tiering, and ask them to support explicit anti‑discrimination language (the Markey‑style protections). Keep it concise, give one local/example metric if possible, and follow up with a brief e‑mail. Note: the net‑neutrality debate continued and evolved after 2006; consult a current timeline before citing policy specifics. Net neutrality in the U.S. — timeline and context. (en.wikipedia.org)

Member Avatar for Dani

Virtual tollbooths, eh?

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.