I have been hearing about this and as it could seriously affect all of us, all our on line stores, and communities - PLEASE take the time to read It seems to me that "our" government is working with the phone companies (SBC-Yahoo is now under AT&T...Welcome back PHONE COMPANY MONOPOLY!!)    

Commentary: Keep the Internet neutral, fair and free

By Craig Newmark

Special to CNN

Saturday, June 10, 2006; Posted: 12:23 p.m. EDT (16:23 GMT)

Editor's note: Craig Newmark is the founder and customer service representative of craigslist.org, an online community that helps people find jobs, places to live or other services unique to their city. In 2005, Time magazine named him one of America's most influential people.

(CNN) -- Most Americans believe that if you play fair and work hard, you'll get ahead. But this notion is threatened by legislation passed Thursday night by the U.S. House of Representatives that would allow Internet service providers to play favorites among different Web sites.

Here's a real world example that shows how this would work. Let's say you call Joe's Pizza and the first thing you hear is a message saying you'll be connected in a minute or two, but if you want, you can be connected to Pizza Hut right away. That's not fair, right? You called Joe's and want some Joe's pizza. Well, that's how some telecommunications executives want the Internet to operate, with some Web sites easier to access than others. For them, this would be a money-making regime.

Next stop is the Senate. If this becomes law, your Yahoo Inc. e-mail account could operate more slowly, unless Yahoo ponies up big bucks to the major telecommunication companies that bring the Internet into your home. By the same token, your craigslist classifieds (I'm the Craig from craigslist) could grind to a halt, unless my company pays up. This is not fair.

Telecommunication companies already control the pipes that carry the Internet into your home. Now they want control which sites you visit and how you experience them. They would provide privileged access for themselves and their preferred partners while charging other businesses for varying levels of service.

But why change a good thing? Right now, the Internet is a level playing field for everyone. The wonky term for this is "Net neutrality." When the Internet is neutral, everyone can use it, just like everyone can use public roads or airwaves. All businesses on the Internet get an equal shot at success.

Here's how Susan Crawford, a professor of cyberlaw and intellectual property at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City, puts it:

"Think of the pipes and wires that you use to go online as a sidewalk. The question is whether the sidewalk should get a cut of the value of the conversations that you have as you walk along? The traditional telephone model has been that the telephone company doesn't get paid more if you have a particularly meaningful call -- they're just providing a neutral pipe."

That's the gist of the issue. The telecom executives tell us that they can be trusted to play fair to let all companies, and not just their paying partners, be equally accessible from homes everywhere. But some of these executives have admitted that they intend to cheat.

William L. Smith, the chief technology officer for Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp., recently told the Washington Post that BellSouth should, for example, be able to charge Yahoo Inc. for the opportunity to have its search site load faster than that of Google Inc. or vice versa. "If I go to the airport, I can buy a coach standby ticket or a first-class ticket," Smith said. "In the shipping business, I can get two-day air or six-day ground."

In my view, executives like Smith forget that they get the use of public resources, like the airwaves and public rights of way, on which they have built their businesses and made a lot of money. As such, they shouldn't be able to squeeze out some Web sites in favor of others. This would be a betrayal of the public trust.

You, the consumer, should be able to choose which sites you want to visit without the telecommunications companies interfering. What it really comes down to is this: The telecommunications executives say we should trust them to provide a level playing field of service, but can they be trusted to play fair?

You already know the answer. If not, ask your repair guy why he didn't show up when promised or consider why the telecom companies block some high-tech services from reaching your cell phone as their own services flourish, as reported recently by Walter Mossberg in the Wall Street Journal. Or how about the fake grass-roots Web sites, such as Hands off the Internet, the telecom industry has set up to support its cause? Is that the height of honesty?

It seems to me that many telecom execs have a deep investment in "truthiness," where they make claims about this or that thing without bothering to support those claims with facts. Perhaps the clearest example of this behavior is when they say that keeping the Net neutral, as it is now, involves more government intervention and regulation, when really the opposite is true.

So let's keep the Net as it is now: Neutral, fair and free. If you care about this issue, please visit Save the Internet and write to Congress.

An idea whose time has surely come. Here's how it could go if this sort of thing catches on more generally:-

Telco operator:
"Good day. You are through to YooHoo 911. We value your call. How may we assist you?"

Distraught caller:
"Oh god!..omigod!..my husband just stuck his hand in the garbage disposal and we need an ambulance RIGHT NOW!!"

TO:
"Your call is being queued. Your call is important to us. But firstly, have you considered taking out the YooHoo Premier 911 service? The YooHoo Premier 911 service represents a worthwhile family-health investment at only $25 per month, payable annually by standing order. Subscribers to the YooHoo Premier 911 service enjoy instantaneous acess to the YooHoo Accident and Mishap Personal Recovery Service, one of the finest, most caring and responsive teams you could wish for. And, if you were to combine YooHoo Premier 911 with YooHoo Excalibur Personal Injury Insurance, you could enjoy a massive twenty percent reduction on the standard annual Excalibur policy premium. Once again, thank you for calling the YooHoo 911 service. Your call will be put through after these messages from our sponsors..."

DC:
[faints]

IIRC, the states' lower house failed to pass a law that would have enforced net neutrality; apparently it conflicted with the desires of their paymasters :lol: so it's already too late AFAIK. doesn't actually relate to phone companies, however. more to broadband ISPs.

When I heard that it had passed one part already "late last night"... this does not bode well.  :(

If you look at the original post, CNN is cited as the source. As the saying goes, "consider the source".   CNN has had problems reporting ALL the facts regarding their stories.  Before you panic, check other sources (not BBC).

Well Long live NOT living in America,  but in the land of the free  "the rest of the world" ...

CB

"..Before you panic, check other sources (not BBC)."

Could you suggest some?