More on the Personal Democracy Forum
I’m not so sure that Rep. Anthony Wiener got the answer he was looking for when he asked for worst case examples of what could happen if the internet is not kept a level playing field. The proponents of Net Neutrality need to work on their answer to that question.
When I try to explain why Net Neutrality is important to my small town officials I try to show the local affect. Here is an example of how the demise of Net Neutrality could affect my small town:
Our town has a brand new performing arts center which houses one of New Jersey’s most active theater companies: The Two River Theater Company. The TRTC may some day perform some new original play that not only entertains local Red Bank residents but draws attention from across the country. (Maybe they get local resident Jon Bon Jovi to take a leading role in a play. His fans would be the type of internet consumer who would watch an online performance in great numbers) To help promote the TRTC and Red Bank the company might want to do some type of internet broadcast or distribution of the performance. With the Tiered Access internet model that the bosses of Verizon and the telcos are promoting the cost of getting the performance onto the high-speed tier would prevent the TRTC from making the performance available to the web.
That’s just one example of many (see: Kev Smith, local affects) I have for showing how Tiered Access would affect our small community. I recommend that the Net Neutrality proponents start answering questions like Rep. Wiener in more concrete terms. I can think of many ways of showing Rep. Weiner that his district would be affected. Think of all the artists in New York and how they might be held back, think of all the small companies with great ideas that might be the next big thing that could be held back, think of all of the political activism in New York that might get stifled and I’m sure there are many many more examples.
I’m trying to make Net Neutrality a local issue with tangible affects. I recommend that other proponents do the same.
