What makes the internet truly great? The fact that on the internet, everyone is basically equal. The lowliest blogger has the potential to reach just as many people as the most powerful and well-funded news organization. One a website catches a person’s attention, that person can visit the website from anywhere in the world, however they want whenever they want. To quote our manifesto, “With the Internet and other advances, the technology exists for a new paradigm of creation, one where anyone can be an artist, and anyone can succeed, based not on their industry connections, but on their merit.” That’s what makes the internet such a powerful force for free culture and democracy.

Unfortunately, that cultural democracy is threatened by the companies that own the wires and pipes through which the internet travels. They want to pass a law that would give them the ability to discriminate between websites based on who pays them more money, and make it difficult or impossible to reach the websites of people who don’t cough up enough cash. This would take us right back to the world of old media, where only a few corporations have the power to reach the masses, and the rest of the population has no voice.

We have signed on to an effort to Save The Internet, to ensure that net neutrality is preserved, and that network owners don’t get the power to play favorites and decide what websites you’re allowed to reach.

We’re in good company… the latest addition to the Save The Internet coalition is rock band R.E.M.! Together with hundreds of other artists, businesses, non-profits and others we will be fighting for your freedom online. Please join us and act now!

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 13th, 2006 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.