Network Neutrality Bill Voted Down In Congress

In a very unfortunate and sad moment today, Congress decided that they will make the internet less free and open. In a vote today, the members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee shot down a Net neutrality amendment to the COPE Act in a 22-to-34 vote. One of the interesting about voting was how much it went down partisan lines. When did this become a Democrate vs. Republican thing? This is not a partisan issue! This is a issue for all americans!

While the COPE Act does add some fair treatment principles, it still gives the ablility for telco's to create a two-tier internet service, which is the real biggie here. Lucky for us, this isn't the end of it. The amendment still has to be heard in the Senate, and as the Coalition at Save The Internet notes, momentum is swinging to our side. Now is the time to act! Get in contact with your congressmen and tell them how much keeping the internet free means to you!

Oh, by the way, here's a list of how the voting went down.

See, I told you this was important!

You remember how I said in my first post that this was going to be a big deal? How this was going to be important to all of us? Well, today, the coalition at savetheinternet.com have setup shop for the rest of the world to join in the fight to protect the internet from the big telco and cable compaines.Now, you may be wondering why this is so important. I mean, it's just another website site, right? Don't we have dozens of these "save-the-internet" type sites? Well, we do, but not like this one. Just take a quick look at their list of members.

What I love about this list is not only that the groups on it can represent a far reaching amount of american votes, but also the diversity of it. Gun Owners of America? Afro-Netizen? This only goes to show that this isnt just in the interest of any particular group, but in the interest of everyone.