DontRegulate.org Is Ridiculous

25May06

DontRegulate.org accomplishes a rare feat: it makes my blood boil in a way usually reserved for election season television advertisements. The Flash movie omits a couple of crucial points on Net Neutrality:

1. The large "multi-billion dollar companies" like Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft aren't currently getting a "free ride" in delivering content to consumer homes. They won't be get a free ride if Congress votes to ensure Net Neutrality. Currently these companies spend millions and millions of dollars monthly in bandwidth costs. They'll spend millions more in the future.
2. Don'tRegulate.org wants to stick the bill for upgrading the infrastructure of the internet to Google et al, not consumers they say. Last time I checked, costs passed on to these companies will be paid by the consumer in higher rates anyways.
3. The Flash video insinuates that the SaveTheInternet coalition is largely a front for these "multi-billion dollar companies." On the contrary, DontRegulate.org and it's parent site HandsOff.org are the sites bought and paid for by telecoms and made to imitate a grassroots movement. According to the SavetheInternet blog, 700 organizations from all shades of the political spectrum have signed on to their movement and 700,000 individuals have signed the SaveTheInternet Net Neutrality petition. That's pretty amazing for an obscure telecommunications issue.

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