Net Neutrality the First Amendment Issue of Our Time

[GriffinSentinel]

I read this on Games Politics and was curious what the USMG thought.

'Net Neutrality the First Amendment Issue of Our Time'
July 26, 2010



Minnesota Senator and former Saturday Night Live Writer Al Franken told a gathering at the Netroots Nation conference on Sunday in Las Vegas that net neutrality is "the First Amendment issue of our time." In a speech before a packed house Franken said that the issues threaten to rewrite the basic rules of the internet.

"Imagine if what is happening with television, where an independent producer can’t get a show on the air unless a network owns a piece of it, were to happen with the internet," he told the crowd. "There would be no next YouTube or Twitter. There would only be what the R&D departments at the few mega-conglomerates could invent and profit from."

Franken also called the Comcast-NBCU deal "the first domino" in creating mega conglomerates, and gave some examples of other companies that might merge together to control the information we get in our daily lives on the Internet and on TV:

"If Comcast merges with NBC, how long do you think it will take for Verizon and AT&T to start looking at looking at CBS-Viacom and ABC-Disney," he said. "If we don’t protect Net Neutrality now, how long do you think it will take before Comcast-NBC Universal, or Verizon-CBS Viacom or AT&T-ABC-DirecTV or BP-Haliburton-Walmart-Fox-Domino’s-Pizza start favoring its content over everyone else’s?" he added.

Meanwhile, a C|Net editorial warns against "fake Net Neutrality," which could come about as service providers hash out deals to protect their interest in behind closed door meetings. This particular editorial brings up some important points worth reading, as the current political climate favors lobbyists and secret deal making as of late.

Game Politics

[saviger]

it is simply the Govts move to try and control the only media they currently CAN'T.