The crucial importance of Net Neutrality

[Munified Logo by FactoryJoe]

Tim Berners-Lee, who has an amazing (albeit infrequently posted ... I want more) blog and who is the dude who invented the internet web (I didn't know there's a difference), says in his recent post, "Neutrality of the Net":

It is of the utmost importance that, if I connect to the Internet, and you connect to the Internet, that we can then run any Internet application we want, without discrimination as to who we are or what we are doing. We pay for connection to the Net as though it were a cloud which magically delivers our packets. We may pay for a higher or a lower quality of service. We may pay for a service which has the characteristics of being good for video, or quality audio. But we each pay to connect to the Net, but no one can pay for exclusive access to me.
...

The Internet is increasingly becoming the dominant medium binding us. The neutral communications medium is essential to our society. It is the basis of a fair competitive market economy. It is the basis of democracy, by which a community should decide what to do. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true.

Let us protect the neutrality of the net.

I agree that a neutral communications medium is essential to our future...so why the heck did we let the Telcos get such early control and why are we letting Google and friends take over now?

Access should be a community-driven, bottoms-up project if we are to truly see net neutrality. Chris and I have started a wiki to raise interest and gather people and information towards this goal.

:: bonus link: Om discusses the importance of Net Neutrality for small business.
:: bonus link 2: Susan Crawford on New Zealand's recent anti-telco monopoly moves to save the web.

[tags: munifi, munified, netneutrality]