Do You Know About "Net Neutrality?"

I just finished reading yet another exposé about net neutrality, this one by Jeffrey Birnbaum. Please check it out as it is a great rendition of this argument. (See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/25/AR2006062500735.html)

It is very disheartening to think that the Internet as we know it now will be taken from us without much fanfare.

So, I ask: Should cable and telephone companies be allowed to charge add-on fees to others for access to their networks?As Mr. Birnbaum says, "Put another way, if net neutrality passes, the AT&Ts of the world will be forced to pay for all of their equipment upgrades themselves and could not subsidize that effort by imposing premium fees for premium services. If net neutrality fails, they will be able to recoup more of those costs than they can now from the likes of Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and other major users of the World Wide Web."

Do we want this? 

This argument all boils down to who pays what for what and when?

If you like things the way they are then let your legislators know. We came very close to NET Armageddon in 2006, and it can happen again to an ill-informed Congress.

A wonderful (long) tutorial about this subject is the book, "The Future of Ideas" by Lawrence Lessig. This is for the serious readers.

But if you want to peruse some websites on "Net Neutrality, you can try these out:

You can start off with Wiki's definition of it Net Neutrality.

Or, you can try some of these websites:

SavetheNet.

Google's Version.

PBS' version.

and,

Common Cause's version.

Become informed and happy reading and let me know what you think?