We’ve seen what happens when big companies regulate themselves. From AIG to BP we easily trust that humans will do the right thing. It’s easy to sit back and go with the flow of what’s happening. We adapt to things we don’t like on a regular basis, but some times things have to change. There has to be a unified moment where the people without the pull realize that we actually DO have the pull. When we come together we can change anything we want.

A moment to test this theory is happening as we speak. Google and Verizon have outlined their “pact” and how it’s going to change the Internet… It’s not good. Our website freedom is going to be taken away and THEY will tell you what you can and cannot look at. Corporations force enough in our face on a daily basis and more and more regulation is starting to takes it’s toll. Let’s not let this happen to the Internet.

Here is some info regarding what is happening…

(Thank you Huffington Post)

1. Under their proposal, there would be no Net Neutrality on wireless networks — meaning anything goes, from blocking websites and applications to pay-for-priority treatment.

2. Their proposed standard for “non-discrimination” on wired networks is so weak that actions like Comcast’s widely denounced blocking of BitTorrent would be allowed.

3. The deal would let ISPs like Verizon — instead of Internet users like you — decide which applications deserve the best quality of service. That’s not the way the Internet has ever worked, and it threatens to close the door on tomorrow’s innovative applications. (If RealPlayer had been favored a few years ago, would we ever have gotten YouTube?)

4. The deal would allow ISPs to effectively split the Internet into “two pipes” — one of which would be reserved for “managed services,” a pay-for-play platform for content and applications. This is the proverbial toll road on the information superhighway, a fast lane reserved for the select few, while the rest of us are stuck on the cyber-equivalent of a winding dirt road.

5. The pact proposes to turn the Federal Communications Commission into a toothless watchdog, left fruitlessly chasing consumer complaints but unable to make rules of its own. Instead, it would leave it up to unaccountable (and almost surely industry-controlled) third parties to decide what the rules should be.

You can go here to read the framework: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35599242/Verizon-Google-Legislative-Framework-Proposal

Or here to see Google’s thoughts:

http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/

Oh, last thing. Protest here: https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=470