A letter from media reform group Free Press to supporters sets a new standard for irony: Not quite two months after Free Press helped pave the way for the U.S. government to regulate the Internet, it’s stoking fears about the U.S. government abusing that power.
A bill proposed by independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine called the “Protect Cyberspace as a National Asset Act” could give the executive branch “vague and unchecked authority to cut off ‘critical infrastructure’ in times of crisis,” Karr wrote. “Such power, in the hands of the nation’s top executive, poses a drastic threat to our First Amendment right to free speech.”
“Vague and unchecked authority?” Isn’t that what Free Press has lobbied for since its inception?
In an op-ed published on Save the Internet (Free Press’s grassroots site), one blogger wrote, “[I]f given the choice between government and corporations –the idea of big government is scary and leads too to much bureaucracy and I know the fears of government intruding our civil liberties…I’d rather support government on this than allowing big cable and phone companies to do away with Net Neutrality.” Why? Because “[b]usinesses exist solely to make a profit for their shareholders/investors.”
That’s just one of many. Type “government intervention” into Save the Internet’s search box, and you’ll see posts demanding not just that Congress grant the FCC regulatory powers over ISPs, but that the FCC seize those powers if Congress won’t.
Thanks in part to the “millions” of signatures Free Press has gathered over the years, net neutrality rules passed the FCC in a 3-2 vote last December. The rules don’t provide for anything resembling a kill switch, but they do subject a previously unregulated industry to the whims of bureaucrats.
In Egypt, government control of ISPs led to an Internet blackout just as pro-democracy Egyptians were rising up against their tyrannical government. All Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had to do was tell providers to halt service. And because carriers in that country operate at the pleasure of the government, they did what they were told.