NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: Sen. Franken to the Netroots: Only You Can Stop the Corporate Takeover of Free Speech
It's only "public infrastructure" if it's paid for by the state. Even if it's a publically run endeavor like the US Postal Service, there are still tiers of priority delivery service and that holds true for the 19th, 20th, and 21st century. George Ou -----Original Message----- From: nnsquad-bounces+george_ou=lanarchitect.net@nnsquad.org [mailto:nnsquad-bounces+george_ou=lanarchitect.net@nnsquad.org] On Behalf Of Edward Almasy Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 3:06 PM To: Richard Bennett Cc: nnsquad@nnsquad.org Subject: [ NNSquad ] Re: Sen. Franken to the Netroots: Only You Can Stop the Corporate Takeover of Free Speech On Jul 26, 2010, at 3:33pm, Richard Bennett wrote: > Franken's remarks stand the First Amendment on its head. The First Amendment protects the citizens from violations of our speech rights by the government, while net neutrality laws are attempts to have the government limit the services and business models of a group of companies. This is only true if network connectivity is purely a matter of private commerce. If (as I and many others believe) the Internet has become a de facto part of our public infrastructure, then we have to consider the services and business models controlling that infrastructure in a different light, on par with those operated by the government. Franken's speech is just one more facet of the push to remold the old legal model to allow it to function as intended within the new 21st century reality. Ed --- Edward Almasy ealmasy@scout.wisc.edu Co-Director 1210 W Dayton Street Internet Scout Madison WI 53706 Computer Sciences Department 608-262-6606 (voice) University of Wisconsin - Madison 608-265-9296 (fax)