About Time

Earthlink is Wi-Fi-ing Atlanta! Hell yeah. 'Bout time since they are the home team. Then again, as most of us have had to, at some point in time, hoe that same long, grueling City of Atlanta-business-dealings row, I can feel their pain through the line. (Payback is hell.)

So fuck you, AT&T... just wish I could have had a chance to say "fuck you" to Bellsouth a little louder. Saying it to AT&T just doesn't have the same umph. Still, I'll be canceling my now-AT&T DSL line-in as soon as I see a Wi-Fi cell go up near me! Praise Jesus, and a big strong fem Purse Slam to AT&T.

Now if we could just dig-up all that cruddy-ass DSL and get Earthlink to lay us down some good strong fiber optic instead. Sure! When Bellsouth/AT&T just recalls all their lobbyista and hands over the Legislature/Congress back to us, the people, on the silver platter we shareholder (Bellsouth) idiots gave them in the first place. More on that scam here.

I say renew our efforts in Iraq in a big way -- send all lobbyistas and their corporate-plantation masters over there instead of soldiers. We need the soldiers here to protect us from the Psycho Christian Right anyways.

Fall Festival

Hey Angry Scarletts fan(s) -- TrueGritz Episode #10, in which Sas and Pauline go all political at the State Fair, is now online for your broadband pleasure. Lemme take you there now.

Or, keeping with the multimedia fest of this one entry alone, check-out one of my archived podcasts about political corruption and big bad telcos here. Wait 'til those folks at BellSouth/AT&T control the Internet! Blog while you can, before they shut the whole thing down, is my advice you never asked for.

Wade Through This

I wrote my U.S. Representative, John Lewis (D), a letter (ok... I took the time at least to send an original email) asking that he support net neutrality regulation and/or net neutrality legislation. Or maybe he could write-up some good kind himself. Heck, at the very least, just please not be led into temptation by hometown lobbyists from massive Atlanta-based telcos. I can't really make heads or tails out of this politico-speak response. Can anyone please offer me your interpretation? Thank you.

Dear Ms. Daughters (Hey, they pasted in the correct name!):

Thank you very much for taking the time to write me with your concerns about the future of information flow on the Internet. I appreciate hearing from you and having the benefit of your views.

As you may know, some Internet service providers (ISP's) have made public comments about plans to develop a tiered system that would give a larger bandwidth to preferred websites. There have also been reports that some ISP's have restricted access to certain websites to prevent their customers from accessing and using these websites. To pre-empt these plans, a coalition of software and high-technology firms such as Amazon,com, Yahoo, Disney, and Microsoft, sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging it to "assure that consumers and other Internet users continue to enjoy the unfettered ability to reach lawful content and services." This issue will become a key factor as the debate over the rewriting of the
telecommunications law proceeds.

A major Internet service provider in Georgia recently informed my staff of its plans as it increases its bandwidth. They told my staff that they "will not block or interfere with customers' access to lawful content or applications over the Internet" and have "no intention of unilaterally imposing fees on any Internet company."

(Tricky part is bolded by me, SG.) It does have plans to offer tiered service that will provide additional bandwidth to guarantee some services to customers and offer greater speeds to paying Internet companies. The provider says that a tiered service will reduce costs to consumers by offering greater service variations. (NOTE FROM SG: I assume the "major Internet service provider" mentioned is BellSouth?)

As Congress continues its debate over how to write the new telecommunications law, I will work to ensure that the Internet remains free of predatory efforts to restrict access to the tools that consumers have come to expect. The FCC has declared that Americans are entitled to: access Internet content of their choice, run online applications and services of their choice, connect their choice of devices, and have fair competition among network, application, service and content providers. While these principles will guide FCC policymaking, they do not carry any enforcement power. I believe that the new law should reflect and encourage these principles. (This is a good thing, right? Then again, we are talking about giving mo' power to the FCC - always a scary thought. This is where things get really tricky.)

Thank you again for sharing your views with me about this important issue. I hope that you will continue to contact me with issues that are important to you. Also, please visit my web site at http://www.house.gov/johnlewis for more information on legislation that interests you.

Sincerely,
John Lewis
Member of Congress