Off we go

Overhead electrical rails, Centraal Station, Amsterdam.

"He who would travel happily must travel light".- Antoine de Saint-Exupery. 

Between a family concern and the Google-Verizon attempt to undermine Net Neutrality, it feels like I'm traveling with the weight of the world on my shoulders. The companies' proposals would maintain both a "public" and "private"  Internet, effectively giving telecoms more control over speed and access.

In 1999, I worked with a group of academics, engineers and tax specialists in San Francisco and Berkeley to determine how the Internet could remain a level playing field for all. What Google and Verizon propose would make Internet access - in many cases - subject to payment, similar to cable television. Such a plan clearly is aimed at lining the pockets of the corporations involved, not any altruism to keep the Internet free for all. President Obama needs to honor his pre-election promise to support Net Neutrality.

Please write President Obama, the Federal Communications Commission and your senators and representatives to urge they stand firm and stop big corporations from dictating Internet traffic.

Reactions to Google-Verizon pact

“The agreement between Verizon and Google about how to manage Internet traffic is nothing more than a private agreement between two corporate behemoths and should not be a template or basis for either Congressional or FCC action,” said Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge. ”It is unenforceable and does almost nothing to preserve an open internet. Most critically, it sacrifices the future of the mobile wireless internet as this platform becomes more central to the lives of all Americans.”

Progressive Change Committee co-founder Adam Green: "Google, a company that I've long admired and currently hold thousands of dollars of stock in, just "went evil."" ... "There is no reason in the world for Google, which has made smart investments in the future, to find common ground with Verizon on the issue of Internet openness. None. Zero. Zilch. Today's deal was unneeded, uncalled for and incompatible with Google's "don't be evil" mantra. Google's decision to cut a deal with Verizon wreaks of either impatience or fear."

Google-Verizon plan: Why you should worry

Web plan from Google and Verizon is criticized

Verizon and Google propose web traffic rules

Google-Verizon Pact: It Gets Worse

Senate Democrats Press FCC to protect Internet from corporate takeover

If you missed this article about our collapsing empire, I urge you to read it. As we pour money into wars, schools are closing, streetlights are turned off and our infrastructure crumbling.  Some cold, hard facts simply can't be avoided.

________________

So much angst: visit my friend Christina at Soul Aperture to be instantly cheered by her lovely photos and tales from her day.

Off to the Netherlands by train. See you later this month.

Comments

[Colette]

Happy travels, Tara. I think of you often.
xoxo

[christina]

hello my friend!
always thinking of you. wishing you the safest of travels.
XO

[JoJo]

Oh to be able to travel light. Next week I move one household, including three cats (one of which with dementia) across the world to another continent. Still so much to pack and sort through. Then into temporary accommodation until our place is finished so we won't be settled for another few months. I get tired just thinking about it all. I hope Amsterdam brings you a great adventure. As a place to live I always preferred it over Paris.

[Helen]

More angst than you could even imagine...

Love Christina's blog, words and photos.

Bon voyage!

[adee]

really serious. and more than that, the article link you gave. i hope the democracy in US scores over its imperialistic tendencies asap. the world cannot afford to lose (a democratic) America just yet!