It's a fitting theme this election season, as the Internet dramatically affects how individuals are engaging in the political process. Millions are using e-mail to contact their congressional representatives and using online tools like Congresspedia and PBS Engage to get critical information and public affairs programming. Activists use social networking sites like Facebook to organize rallies and raise money for political causes. Video on YouTube of political figures in action is shaping public opinion of candidates. Roughly 175,000 new blogs are created every day, giving voice to those who have something to say.
As vital as the Internet has become to political participation, far too many are left out. Low-income consumers cannot afford the high prices charged by cable and phone companies for broadband, let alone purchase a computer to connect. In many rural communities, high-speed Internet is not available for any price. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the U.S. has slipped in broadband penetration rankings from 4th place in 2001 to 15th place in 2007. What does this mean for our political process if millions can't access these technologies to get informed and involved?
There is also no guarantee that the Internet of tomorrow will be as open and free as the one we know today. Comcast was recently punished by the Federal Communications Commission for blocking traffic sent over its network via a program frequently used to share video. Consumer groups argued that the cable giant was attempting to thwart potential competition to its subscription video services. Big cable and phone company Internet service providers have also made no secret of their plans to create a fast lane and a slow lane on the Internet, steering you toward their preferred Web sites.
This is certainly not the Internet consumers are used to, and not how the Internet was designed. Principles called "Net neutrality" would prohibit ISPs from practicing this kind of discrimination by requiring that every bit that crosses the Internet, every Web site and online service you use, will be treated the same. To ensure that the Internet remains a fair playing field that encourages competition, innovation, and free speech, we must fight to make network neutrality the guiding principle of the Internet.
The organizers of OneWebDay hope to build a global constituency that will protect and develop the benefits brought to society by the Internet.
This year there will be events in Melbourne, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Singapore, Tunisia and elsewhere around the globe. Here in the U.S., two days of workshops, tech demos, and rallies will be held in New York City; a concert in Chicago billed as Rock the Net will educate music fans; an e-Democracy Time Capsule will be discussed in Washington, D.C.; and a day of community service will be held in the city of San Francisco, where refurbished city computers will be installed to create tech centers in low-income housing.
Do you want to learn more about the importance of a free and open internet? Visit www.ColoradoCommonCause.org to see footage of our media symposium during the Democratic National Convention, where we discussed net neutrality with leading media reformers.
OneWebDay founder Susan Crawford, a noted cyberlaw scholar and professor at the University of Michigan has written: "Will we have a future shaped by the choices of informational gatekeepers? Or will we have a general-purpose network that anyone can use for his/her own reasons? Will we replicate the models of the past, just because we're used to them? These gatekeepers have every interest in maintaining scarcity, when we could have abundance - with an injection of leadership and will."
