UPDATED: Public Interest Groups and Companies Show Broad Support for Strong Net Neutrality Rules

By Mehan Jayasuriya on October 21, 2009 - 5:33pm

If you've been following the net neutrality news lately, you likely know that tomorrow will mark a historic turning point in the ongoing debate: for the first time, the FCC will convene a rulemaking to specifically address the issue of net neutrality. Of course, the opponents of net neutrality aren't going down without a fight. They've been pulling out all the stops lately: lobbying members of Congress, spreading Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt and even pressuring employees and their families to go on the anti-net neutrality offensive. In so doing, the big telcos had hoped to suppress the debate surrounding the FCC's proposed rules before those rules were even announced. Instead, their "shock and awe" campaign backfired, triggering an incredible response from civil rights groups, corporate CEOs, venture capital firms, the public interest community and just about anyone else you can think of who has a stake in the Internet remaining free and open. The last few days have brought an avalanche of letters asking Congress and the Commission to protect the most valuable platform that we have for innovation, civic discourse and education. We've collected links to some of these letters after the break and will continue to update this list as more letters are published:

Funny how those "public interest" groups are funded by Google.

This includes, of course, your own organization, which accepts both contributions and free labor from this greedy monopolist.

And, of course, your organization only posts above those comments on the proposed Internet regulation which agree with Google’s agenda. Hmmmm.

Inaccurate.

Google funds such a plethora of organizations and invests in so many technology businesses that it is hard to find an area they have not broached. Since you ostensibly argue from the standpoint of an ISP, the example of Google’s investment in Clearwire makes this aspect of your argument moot.

More importantly, these public interests groups act independently of Google and are free to form their own opinions. They use things like facts, logic, and principles to arrive at decisions.

If you have a cogent, reasonable argument against net neutrality, please let it be known. But do not hide behind an insane conspiracy theory.

Our agenda

We only post comments that agree with our agenda, Brett (aka ISP), because we can count on you to post the telephone/cable company side of things. Thanks.