The following e-newsletter was sent to me from the Illinois consumer group C.U.B. and thought it would be of interest to others here since it involves everyone here:

Protecting Illinois Consumers in a Changing World Since 1984

Help Save the Internet!

Do you know Congress is considering a law that would abolish the Internet’s First Amendment – a principle called "Network Neutrality," which prevents companies like AT&T and Comcast from herding you to certain Web sites that pay them the most?

CUB is a member of "Save the Internet.Com", a broad coalition of groups fighting to stop the cable and telephone giants from robbing you of your Internet freedom and draining your pocketbook.

We need your help, so please take action now!

Here’s how this threat to Internet freedom affects you (as described by Save the Internet.Com):

Parents and retirees – Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to its preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.

Telephone/Cable Consumers – When Internet companies like AT&T or Comcast favor their own services, you won’t be able to choose more affordable alternatives for online video or Internet phone calls.

Google Users – A search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee that it opens faster than Google on your computer.

iPod listeners - A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.

Online purchasers – Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices – distorting your choice as a consumer.

If the cable and telephone giants get their way, they will reduce your choice and stifle the spread of innovative and independent ideas that we’ve come to expect on the Internet. So please take action today.

Click on the provided link to send a message in support of "Net Neutrality" to Senators Obama and Durbin and your Representative in Congress. (note: I didn't include the link because it's a link for Illinois residences.)

Then please forward this message to as many people as possible.

Citizens Utility Board
www.citizensutilityboard.org
www.cubaction.org

Legal disclaimer CUB attempts to keep information on its website and in this e-mail accurate, however consumers should check with individual sources before making decisions about products and services. No information provided by CUB should be construed as an endorsement of a specific offer or company. CUB receives no compensation from utility companies or other businesses or organizations that are mentioned on this website.

Some background info on CUB if you don't already know: CUB has been responsible for exposing fraudulent or other activity of wrong doing of illinois gas, electric, and phone companies operating in the Illinois area. They just recently won a case in court against a gas company. The case awarded the largest refund in Illinois history back to consumers for over-charging natural gas prices and inflating them which also involved ENRON. They are currently fighting the big electric companies for Illinois consumers to stop a 40% electric rate increase at the end of the year 2006.

Being Canadian, I'll let Google fight this battle for me. I'll certainly get one board if/when this reaches Canada and becomes a problem for me.

Somehow I don't think an e-mail from Nova Scotia will really matter to a Congressman...LOL

SportsGuy, this problem is primarily an American problem.

I imagine this problem could affect other countries as well, but to what extent, that's anybody's guess. But other people in other countries may have similar problems and may be able to do something about it if they live in a democratic or similar government where they can fight such things. It's something to consider fighting and voicing their concerns to their government representatives.

The recent election results are believed to indicate a better outlook for Internet legislation.

I hope what's being said at that link just above will hold true for the rest of the USA.

I don't like using these huge Internet providers which is why I've always looked for a good small independent provider of Internet connectivity. Hopefully the big guys don't somehow still control through traffic to these smaller ISP's.

What they're wanting to do is charge more for traffic going across the Internet. I believe that would affect everyone.

Yep that might be what they want. I feel we pay enough already ($60+ a month for broadband, 3.5Mb download/1.0MB upload). Technology should make things cheaper, not more expensive. I can remember back in the 70's & early 80's as a kid how future technology was supposedly going to make everything more accessible and cheaper. That's what the "future" books promised. Internet should be getting cheaper.

They want to charge both ends. Users pay for access. They want to charge Web sites for faster access and probably access to specific users. This has more to do with maximizing profits and control than with costs.

Many if not most laws are actually used to protect existing businesses or give advantages to the largest corporations, reduce competition, and keep smaller businesses out of the market.

SportsGuy - of course this will affect you. Especially if you want to do business with Americans finding you on the internet.

Yeah it's about profits. They already make enough. Greedy vultures.

Thought this is important to get attention again.

If you don't know what all this Net Neutrality is about, see this page.

Imagine that one day your internet provider makes SEF pages load up real slow because SEF doesn't pay your ISP high fees to serve their content. This goes on day after day. And you don't realize at first why this is happening. Then you find out your ISP is deliberately preventing you fast access to SEF despite your broadband connection. You feel like you are back surfing at dialup speeds.

That would really stink!

We all have a stake in this and if left unchecked, the little guy gets their net voices set at a whisper or worse, silenced! Talk about censorship...

If you know of other places to post about this, please do.

Thanks Curt - I was in the dark about this