35 Activists Turn Out to Support Internet Freedom in Vermont

Internet Freedom Petition Drop Event at Senator Jeffords Office
Montpelier, Vermont August 31, 2006

*** WATCH streaming video of today's event here ***

Statement of Colleen Thomas, Associate Director of VPIRG

My name is Colleen Thomas and I am the Associate Director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, VPIRG, the state’s largest nonprofit consumer and environmental advocacy group.

Imagine if one day you sat down to surf the Internet and it wasn’t all there… Whether you were going to catch up on the day’s news, research your vacation options, or listen to a podcast, it just wasn’t there, or it loaded so slowly it seemed like it wasn’t there.

Eventually, you’d grow frustrated. You’d give up. You’d log on to a bigger, more mainstream, ad-driven website linked directly from the homepage of your big media Internet provider. And Poof – their website loads immediately!

Think the scenario is far-fetched? Think again. That’s what an Internet without Internet Freedom will be like. That’s the Internet that telephone and cable company executives dream about.

And that’s why the SavetheInternet.com coalition is here today. We are here today to let Senator Jeffords know that over 3,200 Vermont citizens and small businesses want an Internet that works for everyone, not just for the big telecom companies.

The telephone and cable company backed bill –S. 2686 by Senator Stevens of Alaska that’s going to the Senate floor in September-- threatens Internet freedom. Unless it is amended it won’t guarantee what they call in Washington “net neutrality”, but what we know as the Internet’s founding principle of Internet Freedom.

Simply put, network neutrality means that no web site's traffic has precedence over any other's – all data is treated equally and delivered from the originating web site to the user's web browser with the same priority. No fast lane or slow lane.

Network neutrality is the Internet's First Amendment and has existed for the entire history of the Internet.

If companies like Comcast and AT&T have their way, however, web sites will have to pay protection money to get into the "fast lane" or risk opening slowly or simply not working on your computer. We can't let the Internet become captive to large corporations.

From its beginnings, the Internet was built on a cooperative, democratic ideal. It has leveled the playing field so that everyday people can have their voices heard by thousands, even millions of people. Network neutrality has prevented gatekeepers from blocking or discriminating against new economic, political and social ideas. It leaves the consumer to be the decision-maker, not the media giants.

That’s how independent bloggers can now compete with CNN and USA Today for readers. It’s how Vermont small businesses can compete and thrive in today’s global economy. It’s how our kids learn about and contribute to the diverse world community. Without this freedom we all stand to lose.

Connecting to your office could take longer if you don't purchase your carrier's preferred applications. Sending family photos and videos could slow to a crawl. Web pages you always use for online banking, access to health care information, or communicating with friends and family could fall victim to pay-for-speed schemes.

Today we want to thank Senator Jeffords for coming out in support of net neutrality this week. It’s important to know that he has heard the voice of thousands of Vermonters on this issue.

Vermonters understand that the Internet is a critical engine for economic growth and democratic discourse, and they don’t want to be relegated to second class citizens on the Internet by big media corporations.

That’s why it’s crucial for Senator Jeffords to not just support the “concept” of net neutrality, but to use his vote in the Senate to protect it by voting for the Snowe-Durgan Amendment that will protect net neutrality and to vote against the Stevens telecom bill as a whole if it fails to protect our Internet freedom.

Senator Jeffords is headed in the right direction. We now need to make sure his vote is cast for Internet freedom and against corporate special interest.


See also today's media coverage:

WCAX-TV Web article

Additional pictures from today's events

Speak out for Internet Freedom Thursday in Montpelier!

*** News: Thursday, August 31, 12 noon, News Conference ***

Thousands of Vermont Residents To Deliver A Message To Sen. Jeffords: Defend Internet Freedom

THURSDAY: Local members of diverse SaveTheInternet.com Coalition will deliver over 3,200 petition signatures to Jeffords’s Montpelier Office

Montpelier - This Thursday at 12:00 pm at Senator James Jeffords’s Montpelier office, local members of the diverse SavetheInternet.com coalition will urge the senator to defend Internet freedom for small businesses and local families during an important upcoming Senate vote.

WHO: Local residents in SavetheInternet.com Coalition, including VPIRG, Small Dog Electronics, Project Harmony, Vermont Broadband Council, ACME and the Center for Media and Democracy

WHAT: Petition delivery to Sen. Jeffords – over 3,200 Vermont residents supporting Net Neutrality

WHERE: Sen. Jeffords’s office – 435 Stone Cutter’s Way, Montpelier, Vermont

WHEN: 12:00 Noon this Thursday, August 31, 2006

Big telephone and cable companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast are spending millions lobbying Congress to eliminate Net Neutrality. This rule, in place since the Internet was created, prevents Internet service providers from deciding which websites open quickly on people’s computers based on which sites pay them the most. The House already voted to eliminate Net Neutrality. In September, Sen. Jeffords could be the deciding vote in the Senate.

Over 750 diverse groups have come together as the SavetheInternet.com Coalition – including local small businesses, VPIRG and other leading consumer groups, MoveOn, the Christian Coalition, Gun Owners of America, Craig from Craigslist, musicians REM and Moby, Free Press, and others. This coalition collected over 1 million petition signatures online, including over 3,200 in Vermont. Local residents will deliver these petitions to Jeffords’s offices Thursday.

“My phone or cable company should not be telling me which websites I can open on my computer,” said Lea Woods, a resident of Montpelier who signed the online petition to preserve Net Neutrality. “Senator Jeffords has a choice—he can take away Internet freedom by turning the Internet over to giant corporations or he can side with constituents by voting to preserve Net Neutrality.”

“Small businesses like mine depends on a neutral Internet, where the website of a small entrepreneur can be viewed just as easily as the site of a big corporation,” said Don Mayer, whose Waitsfield business Small Dog Electronics has become the largest Apple computers specialist in New England by relying on the Internet for over 80% of its sales. “Without net neutrality, I doubt that Small Dog Electronics would exist today. Net neutrality is essential to one of the most important and growing sectors of Vermont's economy, small businesses that operate on the internet to extend their reach outside of our state. We need Senator Jeffords to declare his support for Net Neutrality so that small businesses and everyday families have an equal right to communicate online as giant corporations.”

Telephone and cable companies have already made clear what they would do to the Internet if Net Neutrality is eliminated. On December 1, 2005, the Washington Post reported: “William L. Smith, chief technology officer for Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp., told reporters and analysts that an Internet service provider such as his firm should be able, for example, to charge Yahoo Inc. for the opportunity to have its search site load faster than that of Google Inc.”
(Link: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1902)

Jon Stewart informed millions of his viewers about this issue (http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2015). MoveOn and the Christian Coalition wrote a joint op-ed (http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1884). For more information, check out www.SavetheInternet.com.

Rediscovery

SO, finally I am getting to where I can start writing more about what I had originally intended with this blog. When I first started, it wasn't actually my intention to post generic life updates and photos, so much as it was to post something of an online journal along the lines of the kind of journaling that used to be so central to my life.

Well, I recently rediscovered many of those old journals. See, for the past five years -- since I've been in my house -- my books and journals and many of my personal space things have been tucked away in storage (my actual apartment in the house is rather small and we just didn't have space for it all). So, alas, in the shed, my milkcrates full of books became mouse tenaments, and my journals sat collecting dust in big rubbermaid tubs. But with the completion of our garage, and my office space in the upstairs, I have finally been able to unpack the annals of my life onto homemade bookshelves in a creative space that I call my own.

It was something of a reflective process -- unpacking, cleaning up and organizing books and journals and files going back to grammar school. How thankful I am that my family has helped to save so much stuff from my past! After finally getting things taken out and put away, I was able to sit back and take it all in -- the books and tapes and titles that tell of times from my past. The many books that show just how deeply into certain things I dove. And the journals... To be able to read and reconnect with my own memories so vividly!

I spent the past week rereading my journals from when I studied abroad in Russia in 1991. I cannot express just how awesome it is that I was so faithful to journaling back then so as to capture the experiences the way I did. These were truly life-changing experiences, a witness to history. And I was smart enough to write it down, describe the sights and sounds and smells and fears and emotions and joys of experencing something so foreign from what I knew. There is so much richness and raw truth in those words that I need to make them more accessible. They need to find their way into print for others to share.

So now that I have a space, my history before me, I embark on a journey to relive, rethink and redefine myself. Maybe this is a midlife crisis? Even if I am too young for that, this is a moment of reconnecting with myself. A transition point. A chance to recommit to being who I want to be, who I think I am. What I might become.

Summer Dog Party 2006

Well, the summer dog party at Stephen Huneck's was another winning success for our extended pack. While it was a sad thing when the howling contest came to pass, we did take the time to remember Boodah, our THREE TIME UNDEFEATED HOWLING CHAMPION by placing a picture and some memories in the dog chapel.


Big congrats go to LUCY, who, following in her brother's footsteps, won her third consecutive title as BEST FRISBEE DOG. It was a close competition, with our friend Elwood coming in a close runner up.



Finally, the Halley pack made a great showing, taking home both BIGGEST and SMALLEST DOG prizes for Moose and Maynard respectively. Although they didn't have her category, if they had, I'm sure Sammie would have won for longest tongue!


Next dog party is October 8th.