Urgent: COPE's Threat to the Internet (USA)

[Guest guest]

" Bill Kingsbury " <b.b.bb

Thu, 11 May 2006 19:21:11 -0700

Urgent: COPE's Threat to the Internet (USA)

 

Please act immediately to save and protect the Internet from

monopolies, tolls and censorship.

 

 

House Vote Will be Crucial to Future of Your Internet

 

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/14914/

 

--- excerpts:

 

Within the next two weeks, and with very little media

attention, the House of Representatives is expected to

vote on the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and

Enhancement Act, also known as the COPE bill. The bill

will have an impact on every American family, but the

only agenda that will be promoted and enhanced by this

bill will be that of the country's largest telephone

and cable companies.

 

Despite COPE's blatant flaws, only 12 members of the House

Commerce Committee -- one Republican, Rep. Heather Wilson

(R-NM) and eleven Democrats -- voted against the bill last

week. The House Commerce Committee approved the bill, by a

vote of 42 to 12. It's not hard to understand why the COPE

bill continues to gain momentum. It's being aggressively

pushed by cable and telephone companies, and other telecom

giants that will benefit from this unfair legislation.

 

The COPE bill opens the door for companies to turn the free

and open " Information Superhighway " into a toll road

benefiting their own bottom lines. A vote for COPE, Rep.

Markey warned, is a vote " to fundamentally and

detrimentally alter the Internet. "

 

The Commerce Committee turned back an amendment by Reps.

Markey, Rick Boucher (D-VA), Jay Inslee (D-WA), and Anna

Eshoo (D-CA) to ensure 'net neutrality': the principle that

Internet users should be able to access any web content

they want, post their own content, and use any applications

they choose, without restrictions or limitations imposed by

their Internet service providers (ISPs).

 

The amendment, defeated by a vote of 34 to 22, would have

protected an Internet where any user can search for

information without constraint, and where thousands of

nonprofit groups and bloggers have been able to prosper

because the Internet provided them a lowcost forum where

they compete for an audience based on the quality of their

ideas, not the size of their wallets.

 

As the House prepares to vote this week, the House

leadership wants this bill to be rushed through before the

public gets a chance to voice its opposition. But that

opposition already is being heard. Common Cause alone

has generated more than 80,000 e-mails and calls to

Congress and telecommunications executives calling for

'net neutrality'. As one Member of Congress put it:

" There's a prairie fire going on out there. "

 

 

================================================================

 

Internet Freedom Under Fire: Act Now

 

http://www.freepress.net/action/neutrality

 

http://www.savetheinternet.com/

 

 

The Struggle for Net Freedom

 

http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom/

 

 

================================================================

 

 

--- the full article:

 

http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/14914/

 

 

House Vote Will be Crucial to Future of Your Internet

 

Posted Tuesday, May 09, 2006 :: infoZine Staff

 

Kansas City infoZine

 

Within the next two weeks, and with very little media

attention, the House of Representatives is expected to

vote on the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and

Enhancement Act, also known as the COPE bill. The bill

will have an impact on every American family, but the

only agenda that will be promoted and enhanced by this

bill will be that of the country's largest telephone

and cable companies.

 

Washington, D.C. -- infoZine -- The COPE bill will rewrite our

telecommunications laws. Its sponsors, Commerce Committee

Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI), Chip

Pickering (RMS), and Bobby Rush (D-IL), are pushing the bill

as an antidote to high cable rates and our lagging place in

the world when it comes to the number of people who are

getting access to high-speed Internet.

 

But the COPE bill will not do what its sponsors promise.

Indeed, it threatens to raise cable rates for poorer folks,

and may make it less likely that average families get access

to high-speed Internet. " This bill leaves out half of

America, " Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) said during last week's

Commerce Committee debate.

 

Even worse, the COPE bill could transform the Internet from a

medium that helps people talk to one another, engage in their

democracy more directly and become informed about issues, into

a vehicle that only operates efficiently for big companies

that want to sell goods and transmit television programs,

films and games. It would squash the Internet's potential for

expanding democratic discourse and place barriers in the way

of the entrepreneurs with new ideas.

 

Despite COPE's blatant flaws, only 12 members of the House

Commerce Committee -- one Republican, Rep. Heather Wilson

(R-NM) and eleven Democrats -- voted against the bill last

week. The House Commerce Committee approved the bill, by a

vote of 42 to 12. It's not hard to understand why the COPE

bill continues to gain momentum. It's being aggressively

pushed by cable and telephone companies, and other telecom

giants that will benefit from this unfair legislation.

 

These huge special interests have been investing in Congress

for a long time. Indeed, since 1998, just eight huge media

corporations and their trade groups alone have spent more than

half a billion dollars influencing policies in Washington:

more than $460 million on lobbying and nearly $48 million in

campaign contributions to federal candidates.

 

They get all kinds of benefits in the COPE bill

 

. No more interference from pesky local governments. The

legislation states that if a telephone company wants to

offer video programming, it does not have to negotiate

local franchise agreements, the way cable companies had to.

Instead, it would get a national franchise that sets some

minimum standards of behavior and compensation to local

governments for using their rights of way. A cable company

ultimately will be entitled to the same national franchise

agreements, once a telephone company competes in its local

market.

 

. The chance to offer special deals to high-income customers

at the expense of lower income families. Current law states

that every cable customer pays the same for cable service,

regardless of where that customer is located. But the COPE

law will make it possible for phone and cable companies to

compete for the same high-income customers by slashing

prices for their services, while keeping prices high or

higher for customers in other parts of the cable market

area that are less desirable.

 

. The likelihood that the benefits of competition will be

delayed or even denied to low-income, rural and minority

families. When a local community awards franchise

agreements, it requires a video provider to extend its

services to the entire community, not just certain

neighborhoods. With local governments no longer calling the

shots, the COPE law does nothing to ensure that video

providers " build out " their systems to include all

families, not just the affluent.

 

" Who will benefit from competition? " asked Rep. Lois Capps

(D-CA) during the Commerce Committee debate last week.

" National franchises will allow new entrants to pick and

choose where they'll compete. " Rep Hilda Solis (D-CA), who

pushed unsuccessfully for passage of an amendment to

require a phased " build-out, " said it was vital to ensure

that " no one is stranded on the wrong side of the digital

divide. "

 

. No local or state cop on the beat to police phone and cable

companies for poor service. Instead, Federal Communications

Commission would be the primary enforcer of consumer rules.

 

 

COPE's Threat to the Internet

 

But the COPE bill's worst effects would be on the Internet as

a powerful medium for democratic discourse. Currently, there

is nothing in law or regulation that will prevent a media

corporation from drastically changing our experience of the

Internet. Indeed, some of the most powerful media moguls in

the country have openly discussed their plans for an Internet

that is vastly different from the Internet thousands of

Americans have come to know and love. The COPE bill opens the

door for companies to turn the free and open " Information

Superhighway " into a toll road benefiting their own bottom

lines. A vote for COPE, Rep. Markey warned, is a vote " to

fundamentally and detrimentally alter the Internet. "

 

The Commerce Committee turned back an amendment by Reps.

Markey, Rick Boucher (D-VA), Jay Inslee (D-WA), and Anna Eshoo

(D-CA) to ensure 'net neutrality': the principle that Internet

users should be able to access any web content they want, post

their own content, and use any applications they choose,

without restrictions or limitations imposed by their Internet

service providers (ISPs).

 

The amendment, defeated by a vote of 34 to 22, would have

protected an Internet where any user can search for

information without constraint, and where thousands of

nonprofit groups and bloggers have been able to prosper

because the Internet provided them a lowcost forum where they

compete for an audience based on the quality of their ideas,

not the size of their wallets.

 

The COPE -enabled Internet would be an Internet divided

between the information " haves " and " have nots. " Those

companies that provide Internet service would be able to

charge organizations, bloggers, candidates, political parties,

activists of both left and right, and other groups, a fee to

ensure that their message can be easily accessed by those who

surf the 'net. Those groups that cannot pay these fees would

be consigned to slower lanes on the information highway, and

will be more difficult to find. Innovators - the founders of

the Googles and eBays of the future - also would be crippled

because they wouldn't be able to afford to reach the millions

of web users that the original Google, and eBay could

reach.

 

Net neutrality is expected to be considered by the entire

House the week of May 8, provided the House leadership permits

a net neutrality amendment to be offered. It is crucial that

those who treasure the Internet as a vehicle for democratic

discourse make their views known to House members. It is also

crucial that average citizens tell Members of Congress that

unless it is radically changed, that they can't " cope " with

the COPE bill. It deserves an emphatic thumbs down.

 

As the House prepares to vote this week, the House leadership

wants this bill to be rushed through before the public gets a

chance to voice its opposition. But that opposition already is

being heard. Common Cause alone has generated more than 80,000

e-mails and calls to Congress and telecommunications

executives calling for 'net neutrality'. As one Member of

Congress put it: " There's a prairie fire going on out there. "

 

 

Key Votes on COPE Bill in House Commerce Committee:

 

 

Those Members voting for COPE:

 

Republicans

 

Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (TX)

Charles Bass (NH)

Michael Bilirakis (FL)

Marsha Blackburn (TN)

Roy Blunt (MO)

Mary Bono (CA)

Michael Burgess (TX)

Steve Buyer (IN)

Barbara Cubin (WY)

Nathan Deal (GA)

Vito Fossella (NY)

Paul Gillmor (OH)

Ralph Hall (TX)

Tim Murphy (PA)

Sue Myrick (NC)

Charles Norwood (GA)

Chip Pickering (MS)

Joe Pitts (PA)

George Radanovich (CA)

John Shadegg (AZ)

John Shimkus (IL)

Cliff Stearns (FL)

John Sullivan (OK)

Lee Terry (NE)

Fred Upton (MI)

Greg Walden (OR)

Ed Whitfield (KY)

 

 

Democrats

 

Rick Boucher (VA)

Sherrod Brown (OH)

Jim Davis (FL)

Eliot Engel (NY)

Charles Gonzalez (TX)

Bart Gordon (TN)

Gene Green (TX)

Jay Inslee (WA)

Frank Pallone (NJ)

Mike Ross (AR)

Bobby Rush (IL)

Ted Strickland (OH)

Bart Stupak (MI)

Edolphus Towns (NY)

Albert Wynn (MD)

 

 

 

Voting Against

 

 

Republicans

 

Heather Wilson (NM)

 

 

Democrats

 

Tom Allen (ME)

Tammy Baldwin (WI)

Lois Capps (CA)

Diana DeGette (CO)

John Dingell (MI)

Mike Doyle (PA)

Anna Eshoo (CA)

Ed Markey (MA)

Jan Schakowsky (IL)

Hilda Solis (CA)

Henry Waxman (CA)

 

 

Not Voting

 

Mike Ferguson (R-NJ)

C. L. " Butch " Otter (R-ID)

Mike Rogers (R-MI)

 

 

 

ISSN 1082-7315

 

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