SAVE THE INTERNET

Two huge corporations, Google and Verizon, are making back room deals that will affect the future of the Internet and Net Neutrality.

Rochester, N.Y.--  The Internet was founded on the principle that all data is equal and that no corporation should be able to decide whose data goes faster or slower. It's this principle, called Net Neutrality, which has made the Internet such an amazing platform for individual speech, democratic action, and entrepreneurial creativity. Over the years, the Internet has become an indispensible tool in delivering efficient library services.

The concept of net neutrality states that if a given user pays for a certain level of Internet access, and another user pays for the same level of access, then the two users should be able to connect to each other at the subscribed level of access.

If you care at all about preserving this ideal, you might be shocked to know that search engine giant Google is about to cut a terrible deal with Verizon that would end the fair, open Internet as we know it. The deal would allow Google to buy up priority access on Verizon’s network that would eventually lead to tiered pricing for consumers.

This deal would also allow multi-national corporations to control which websites load quickly and easily on the Internet and dump everyone else onto an Internet slow lane. This is exactly the kind of unequal playing field that Google itself has opposed in the past.

Google is threatening to turn the Internet into closed, pay-to-play, cash cow for large corporations. Their agreement would also make wireless networks an unregulated space.

What defenders of Net Neutrality find troubling is that President Obama's new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Julius Genachowski initially came out strong for Net Neutrality, in line with the President's campaign promises. However, the big telecom companies launched a lobbying frenzy, and soon the FCC was meeting with them behind closed doors.

Because Google and Verizon are two powerhouse corporations that have historically been on opposite sides of this issue, an agreement between them will put enormous pressure on the FCC to go along with their recommendations. Essentially, two giant corporations may be deciding the future of the Internet. If the Obama administration goes along with this, this could be another devastating blow to the preservation of first amendment rights and consumer freedoms.

Commentary by Ove Overmyer

CSEA President, City of Rochester Library Workers Unit 7420

CSEA Local 828 VP