Hyattsville

Imagine if you could no longer access the Hyattsville Organization for a Positive Environment list-serve because Comcast has decided they would prefer to direct you to their community pages instead of Yahoo! Groups. Or, consider the inconvenience of being routed to an inferior map and directions service when you would rather use MapQuest to find directions to the party across town. Simply put, the U.S. Senate is considering legislation that may allow broadband providers to establish roadblocks on the Internet — detouring Web surfers to their own services or websites willing to pay for access to their customers.

Currently, Comcast and Verizon, Hyattsville’s cable and DSL Internet providers, along with AT&T and others, are lobbying Congress to prevent safeguards from being added to the Communications, Consumer’s Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 that would keep the Internet’s highways open to all and prohibit Web discrimination.

What’s at issue is the concept of “net neutrality.” In a policy statement adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in August of 2005, net neutrality requires broadband network operators to “preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet,” and to ensure consumers can reap the benefits of open competition and technical innovation.

Advocates for net neutrality, which include Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, argue that without legally enforceable safeguards, the cable and telecom industry will erect a tiered Internet that will give preference to website access and broadband speeds to customers willing to pay more, similar to the basic cable, preferred service or digital plus options offered by Comcast for cable television. By not protecting net neutrality, advocates warn competition and innovation on the Internet will be stifled, giving advantage to larger and more established companies who can afford premium access to all of a provider’s customers at accelerated speeds.

On the flip side, broadband providers argue that they are entitled to charge more for a faster Web experience since they are bearing the cost of the Internet infrastructure and, as more people take advantage of broadband services, a tiered Internet arrangement will help them to manage bandwidth and ensure quality of service.

In late June, proposed amendments to the telecom bill were not adopted by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee because there wasn’t a clear majority of support. The vote was deadlocked 11 to 11.

Fortunately, when the bill goes to vote on the Senate floor in the near future, advocates will have another chance to ensure unfettered access to the Internet stays intact. And for people in Hyattsville, that means access to the H.O.P.E. list-serve, Google and 43Places will not be compromised.

To learn more about this issue or to get involved, visit www.savetheinternet.com or www.itsournet.org.

csuspect is a resident of Ward 2 and co-host of the www.hyattsvillehacks.com community podcast.

Just testing 43 Places out to see how it works

Hyattsville is where I do my Red Cross training, and they have sent me to Louisiana.