The Intergalactic Highway

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinio ... 9120.story

This is a news story about a bill that Congress is attempting to pass, and it is expected to pass through the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the President. This bill would attempt to limit access to Internet sites based on how much they could afford to pay. This bill proposes making a deal with the major ISPs to create 2 different Internets; one fast and one slow.Those websites that could not pay a fee would be put in the slow lane and the ISP could even have the power to redirect someone from that site if they chose. It's money loving censorship at it's worst, and tramples on the freedom of communication offered by the Internet. I'm not really sure which forum this belongs in but I chose to post this here, since it is both a topic for discussion as well as two links.

http://www.petitiononline.com/ratfg198/petition.html

This is the petition that I signed against this law, I beg any US users (since this is a US law) to consider signing this petition or another one to stop this bill.

Normally I am against posting any sort of petitions on any forum, but this affects all of us. It could even have a serious impact on BWINT, it might not if this site is hosted by a company outside of the US, then again it may not matter who hosts it since it would be the ISPs who would be limiting access to individual sites regardless of who is hosting them and where.

I would gladly sign it if I could. Being a canuck means any law passed in the U.S means it would have some effect up here.

This bill is probably also a way to control what we download too. I sense the MPAA and RIAA behind this as well.

That sounds terrible. (I don't mind you posting this here, btw, Caboose) If it makes a difference if I host Bwint on another server (it's currently hosted by an American company called Lonex) then I'll move it. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. This sounds terribly unfair.

Oh man, that doesn't sound good at all. The internet is slow enough already for me, I don't need things going any slower =/

Hrrrm, I haven't heard anything about this. I'll have to check with some sources I trust more than the Baltimore Sun before I sign the petition, though, since the fact that Bush (whom I'm a big fan of) is signing it and Senator Olympia Snowe is against it signals to me that it may not be all bad....

I ran this past my US History teacher and he said it looks legitimate. I trust his judgement on the grounds that he is the only teacher in my school who is qualified to teach the AP US History course, he is very well read (he subscribes to many political magazines and journals from all the different parties, and not just ones in the US either), and he has traveled around a lot and met some very well connected and influential people. He brought in one of his friends last year who is a professor from France who works as an international reporter for a British news service (I forget which one) who showed us pictures and video from her recent time in Iraq. I therefore trust his judgement. He had not heard anything about this law either, but he did say that the Baltimore Sun was fairly reputable and the University the suthor teaches at has a very good reputation. If you think about it, there is a great deal of legislation going through Congress at the moment as well as high profile happenings on the political scene that would cover up something like this. I really do hope I'm wrong, and that this is some sort of stupid hoax, but I don't think so. After some of the deals the Bush Administration has been making with the major Internet companies lately, I'm not really surprised that they would try this. Can you just imagine the consequences though? If this bill passes? Just think of what all of the "technologically inclined" Internet users might/ probably would do to the ISPs that agree to be a part of this law.