WBIA on Net Neutrality
The WBIA has watched with alarm and grave concern at the erosion of our nations global ranking in technology deployment, competition, consumer choice, open-access and the threat to technology innovation. “As though death-by-a-thousand-cuts, the WBIA has spoken out regarding our concerns about the steady stripping away of those rights to bring access and choice to consumers”, said Cynthia de Lorenzi, WBIA co-founder. To strengthen the call to our nations leaders, WBIA has joined its voice with consumers and other coalition members of It's Our Net Coalition, which was founded by Amazon.com, eBay, Google, IAC/InterActiveCorp, Microsoft and Yahoo!
“We have failed to take into account an accurate picture of the intrinsic value to our nation's economy made by the presence of the open framework of the Internet and the applications created and used by the world,” de Lorenzi noted. The independent service providers in an open Internet environment have been irreparably harmed and entirely overlooked and must be included in any debate involving telecom legislative policymaking. Telecom policies do not operate in a vacuum and impact not only the independent ISP, but also consumers, technology innovators, suppliers and legislators.Each time that the FCC or Congress strips away the rights of others to connect or help others to connect to the Internet, technological innovation, advancement, opportunity and choices are lost. The very last vestige of ensuring the promise of the Internet lies with preserving Net Neutrality – without it, consumers, businesses, innovators will soon lose the openness and freedom so inherent in what has been the promise of the Internet. It is the early technology pioneers that saw and created the “roadways” to the information super-highway, and connected the world better and faster than ever before.
WBIA believes that without Net Neutrality the Internet WILL be Regulated, but not by government, the FCC or rules governing fair behaviors, but by the companies operating in a monopolistic framework incapable of looking beyond the self-serving bottom line. It is apparent that the House failed to stand up to the influence of free flowing financial contributions from lobbyists and those who represent the interest of Bell conglomerates and do what lies in the best interest of our nation. The Senate now stands as the final gatekeeper to the future of choice and opportunity of all Americans. As the Senate prepares to vote on Net Neutrality it must stand vigilant in doing the right thing and preserve the inherent freedom of the Internet!
The Washington Bureau for ISP Advocacy (WBIA) serves as a grassroots educational organization and an advocate on behalf of consumers, ISP's, CLEC's., technology innovators, suppliers, and aggregators who recognize the need for choice and call for retaining the rights of all Americans to connect, travel freely across the Internet and use whatever applications they choose to enhance that experience of connectivity.
