PLEASE READ: Opposing the reinstatement of Net Neutrality is a direct attack on technology businesses and I will actively oppose any politician who takes a position contrary to reinstating Net Neutrality. This may make me a one issue voter, but this one issue is my livelihood, and drives a massive section of our national economy. I want to make this abundantly clear: Net Neutrality is not a new concept, and, in-fact, is the fundamental tenet that the entire internet is built upon. Net Neutrality has always existed and always guided the expansion of the internet until it was blocked in January of this year (online.wsj/articles/SB10001424052702304049704579320500441593462). When the ruling occurred, technology companies gasped, saying that ISPs would try to charge tolls for usage of specific sites. Politicians laughed, saying there was no way that would happen-- and since the ruling in January, ISPs have been doing precisely what we warned they would be doing, and they are now beginning to break the internet. If we do nothing ISPs will continue demanding money from content providers in order to deliver their content at normal speeds. Theyve already begun this process even with the big guys, and NetFlix has been forced to pay millions and millions of dollars in tribute to Comcast. The attack on NetFlix by Comcast is merely the first shot fired. AT&T is going to jump in on the game, too, as they have indicated by the hostage-taking of their own fiber investment, saying that they will not invest until the Net Neutrality laws have been settled (cnet/news/at-t-ceo-net-neutrality-uncertainty-puts-a-pause-in-investing/) -- Statements like that show that they will NOT honor Net Neutrality-- otherwise, why would they care? We MUST restore Net Neutrality if we want to maintain the internet in the fashion that it existed earlier this year. I believe the internet is the greatest invention that we as humans have ever created. We cannot sit back and watch it be destroyed. We must take action now, before this begins to snowball. I have a selfish interest in this. My employees, my clients, my business, and a massive section of the US economy is based on the principles of Net Neutrality. Please, do not make uninformed partisan decisions on this. Net Neutrality is not a new concept, and it is what guided our architecture since the dawn of the internet. It was repealed, and now the internet is beginning to break. Talk to people you know. Ask ANYONE you know who makes a living from the internet. They will all tell you the same: We need to fix this, and we need to fix this now. Please join us in protecting the internet and demanding the re-reinstatement of Net Neutrality. If youve read this far, please LIKE and/or SHARE this status. Heres a light-hearted web comic to help demonstrate the seriousness of this situation: theoatmeal/blog/net_neutrality
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 00:12:41 +0000