Net neutrality is the First Amendment of the Internet, stand up!

To The Daily Sun,

The Internet is the public square of the 21st century, the place where the American people today most often exercise their rights of free speech and free association. IT Net neutrality is the First Amendment of the internet.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's so-called "fast-track" proposal is a naked attempt to hand control of the Internet in the United States to the big telecom corporations he used to work for — and apparently is still working for. If adopted on May 15, this proposal would be a shameful abrogation of the commission's statutory obligation to protect the rights and interests of the American people.

If the big telecom corporations that provide our high speed internet connections are given the power to discriminate between different kinds of data streams based on one criterion — profit — they will have the power to start discriminating based on any other criteria they want, such as, they don't like the political, economic, or social views of the content providers. No corporation should be given that kind of control over the People's public square!

The commission needs to stop protecting the profits of the big telecom corporations and start protecting the rights and interests of the American people. The commission needs to do what the federal courts have twice told them to do: Reclassify ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act and enact the necessary net neutrality rules.

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Please stand up for our First amendment rights. Call your member of Congress and both of our U.S. Senators and demand legislation that reclassifies ISPs as common carriers and codifies into federal law that the Internet belongs to the citizens of the United States, not the ISPs.

And please sign my petition at: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/fire-fcc-chairman-tom.fb77

Don Campbell

Moultonborough