eBay supports Net Neutrality – please support!

By | 2006/08/02

Dear eBay user,

As you know, I almost never reach out to you personally with a request to get involved in a debate in the U.S. Congress. However, today I feel I must.

Right now, the telephone and cable companies in control of Internet access are trying to use their enormous political muscle to dramatically change the Internet. It might be hard to believe, but lawmakers in Washington are seriously debating whether consumers should be free to use the Internet as they want in the future.

Join me by clicking here — http://www.ebaymainstreet.com/netneutrality — to send a message to your representatives in Congress.

The phone and cable companies now control more than 95% of all Internet access. These large corporations are spending millions of dollars to promote legislation that would allow them to divide the Internet into a two-tiered system.

The top tier would be a “Pay-to-Play” high-speed toll-road restricted to only the largest companies that can afford to pay high fees for preferential access to the Net.

The bottom tier — the slow lane — would be what is left for everyone else. If the fast lane is the information “super-highway,” the slow lane will operate more like a dirt road.

Today’s Internet is an incredible open marketplace for goods, services, information and ideas. We can’t give that up. A two-lane system will restrict innovation because start-ups and small companies — the companies that can’t afford the high fees — will be unable to succeed, and we’ll lose out on the jobs, creativity and inspiration that come with them.

The power belongs with Internet users, not the big phone and cable companies. Let’s use that power to send as many messages as possible to our elected officials in Washington. Please join me by clicking here right now to send a message to your representatives in Congress before it is too late. You can make the difference.

Thank you for reading this note. I hope you’ll make your voice heard today.

One thought on “eBay supports Net Neutrality – please support!

  1. Renegade Division

    Most of the Net Neutrality supporters are ill-informed morons.

    All it takes is to present the case in the way most people will be moved by the BIG words used in it.

    Capitalism works because people paying more are give more features and more services to recover the investment costs in it.

    Demanding same Quality of Service essentially limits the expansion of bandwidth and infrastructure.

    Just answer this question “If preferential treatment is given to BIG companies with a LOT of paying power, over the less paying customers, WHERE do you think that money will be spent on?”

    Lets say People in Texas need Oranges from Iowa, one trader decides to supply the oranges, now when he brings Oranges to TX, he wants to sell it to the highest bidder(only the richest can afford). But Texas govt makes it a law that he will be only able to charge the cost price + 5% of what he spent in Iowa, and calls it Orange Neutrality.

    But you see, if he was selling oranges to highest bidder first, that would have given him BIG incentive to use that money and buy a bigger truck, many trucks, even a cargo airplane to bring more and more Oranges to TX thereby allowing lesser paying power customers to buy them too.

    Net Neutrality is anti-freedom, and it will harm people in the long run.

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