Remember my post about Net Neutrality and the Brodsky Bill?
Net Neutrality is the realization of the First Amendment, except on the digital plane. Remember, Free Speech is government regulation. Imagine the ridiculousness of claiming that we don't need the Bill of Rights, because "the market will sort it out". Same deal with Net Neutrality.
In case the term Net Neutrality confuses you, Public Knowledge has crafted a quick three minute clip explaining the idea in an elegant and clean manner.
Really, watch it. It'll only take less than three minutes, and explains the whole deal very well.
(Sayhar has written a couple of great pieces about the Brodsky bill and net neutrality over at Rochester Turning. I asked if he would cross post and he has agreed. Thanks, Sayhar. - promoted by phillip anderson)
Most of the bill is concerned with giving great cheap broadband to most every New Yorker. I know it's a bit cliched to say it, but this really could be a modern-day analogue to the Erie Canal. Like the Erie Canal, however, it has to be used for the public good, and not for corporate short-sighted interest.
To that end, the bill also has Net Neutrality provisions. Let those good folks at the Save The Internet Coalition explain the concept:
National ISPs (like Verizon) can block your access to national sites (like Google), and stop any exciting new entrepreneur that threatens their grip on power.
Net Neutrality can affect you personally. Without it, there is no way to stop a rich local businessman from bribing roadrunner into censoring your competing website. For that matter, if we piss off the local Republican Party too much, they could bribe local ISPs to stop you all from accessing Rochester Turning.
I sat in on Eric Massa's weekly blogger conference call this morning and he greeted me with words of strong support for our effort to urge the Governor to support the Telecom Reform Act. The topic of this week's call was economic renewal in western New York and what he plans to do to help foster such a renewal. I think it goes without saying that any plan to spur the long depressed economy out there must surely include bringing broadband services to those populations. That said, let's not forget that all that fiber optic cable has to be laid and installed by real people, with real skills. The first wave of job creation to come from implementing Brodsky's bill will come from the very work of building out that much needed infrastructure and there is much, much work to be done.
The USA trails other industrialized nations in high-speed Internet access and may never catch up unless quick action is taken by public-policymakers, a report commissioned by the Communications Workers of America warns.
The median U.S. download speed now is 1.97 megabits per second - a fraction of the 61 megabits per second enjoyed by consumers in Japan, says the report released Monday. Other speedy countries include South Korea (median 45 megabits), France (17 megabits) and Canada (7 megabits).
"We have pathetic speeds compared to the rest of the world," CWA President Larry Cohen says. "People don't pay attention to the fact that the country that started the commercial Internet is falling woefully behind."
It's time for New York to take the lead. If you want broadband built out to a minimum of 85% of the state, if you want strong net neutrality protections, if you want cheaper rates for cable through real competition and if you want to do something real and concrete to breathe new life into the upstate economy, Please Call the Governor and ask him to support Assemblyman Brodsky's Telecommunications Reform Act.
Person I spoke with said this was not one of the issues they were currently tracking.
The governor's office isn't tracking upstate economic renewal? or internet freedom? or the most significant reform of telecom law in New York ever?
It is imperative that we put this issue on Mr. Spitzer's radar. If you haven't yet done so, Please Call The Governor and ask him to support the bill. You can reach his office at 518-474-8390.
If they tell you they aren't tracking this, tell them they should start!
(Bumped. Have YOU called the Governor yet? - promoted by phillip anderson)
The Legislature left Albany last week with much unfinished business. The Governor issued a statement expressing his disappointment with lawmakers for so abruptly abandoning a number of viatl pieces of legislation before leaving for home.
This record is totally unacceptable.
New Yorkers expect and deserve dedicated and aggressive action to revive the upstate economy and reform state government.
...
In the days and weeks ahead, I will be traveling the state to remind lawmakers of their obligation to address pressing issues.
Mr. Spitzer lists many of the issues left unresolved by the legislature including Wicks law reform, paid family leave and power plant siting legislation. But, one of the most significant bills introduced in Albany in years didn't seem to make his list, Assemblyman Brodsky's Telecommunications Reform Act of 2007, a bill that would certainly qualify as "dedicated and aggressive action to revive the upstate economy" by requiring the buildout of high speed broadband infrastructure to a minimum of 85% of the state, something desperately needed by under served and economically depressed communities upstate. It would also protect net neutrality, bring cheaper cable and telephone rates through increased competition and allow New York to once again be a progressive, innovative model for other states to follow.
Quite a coalition of support has coalesced around the bill since its introduction including NYS Rural Advocates, NYPIRG, Common Cause, Jobs With Justice, Citizen Action, Rural Opportunities Inc, New York State Alliance for Retired Americans, Consumers Union and ACORN among others. Much of the credit for assembling this coalition goes tp Pete Sikora at the Communications Workers of America who has done a fantastic job of building support for the bill against its only known opponents, namely the cable companies and Verizon (and by extension, Joe Bruno and the Republican state Senators who represent those upstate New Yorkers who stand to benefit most from passage of the bill.)
I've written about the bill here several times and want to explain again why I and so many others believe it to be the "gold standard" in state telecom legislation (or as Pete Sikora put it, "the best thing since sliced bread") but first I want to ask you to do something to get this bill back on the governor's radar. Please call Mr. Spitzer's office and ask him to support this bill. You can reach his office at 518-474-8390.
We know that the Governor has a long history of supporting consumers over corporations. He also campaigned on expanding broadband infrastructure to underserved upstate communities and has often expressed his vocal support for net neutrality such as when he wrote to Senator Ted Stevens (.pdf) last year:
Net neutrality embodies the principle of open access and nondiscriminatory treatment of all internet users and content providers. Net neutrality has made the internet a powerful promoter of public discourse and commercial exchange, affording to users throughout all parts of the nation and the world and unlimited array of information, news, opinion and entertainment. Net neutrality has also fostered robust competition by content providers, without regard to ownership of the backbone facilities over which Internet traffic travels.
We need to let the Governor know that not only do we want what this bill provides (and he has repeatedly advocated for) but that there is a constituency of support for him when he takes on this fight. Call him at 518-474-8390 and ask him to support this bill.
