The end of the Internet?

Be sure to read this article by Jeff Chester in The Nation concerning plans by telephone and cable companies to turn the Internet into "a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online." Money quote:

...before there are any policy decisions, a national debate should begin about how the Internet should serve the public. We must insure that phone and cable companies operate their Internet services in the public interest - as stewards for a vital medium for free expression.

If Americans are to succeed in designing an equitable digital destiny for themselves, they must mount an intensive opposition similar to the successful challenges to the FCC's media ownership rules in 2003. Without such a public outcry to rein in the GOP's corporate-driven agenda, it is likely that even many of the Democrats who rallied against further consolidation will be "tamed" by the well-funded lobbying campaigns of the powerful phone and cable industry.

In many ways, the Web is the only thing that still truly belongs to "we the people." Contact your representatives in Washington, and demand that they stop Big Business from stealing this freedom from us too.

(Also, check out this follow-up piece on the shamefully brief "Net neutrality" hearing held Tuesday by the Senate Commerce Committee.)