InfoKwik Kansas City Area News

Bill Moyers on Net Neutrality Victories



Veteran television journalist Bill Moyers opened the National Conference for Media Reform Friday with praise for SavetheInternet.com’s grassroots campaign to keep the Internet open and fair for all comers.

“You lit a fire under people to put Washington on Notice,” Moyers told a packed house of more than 3,000 activists and organizers.

Net Neutrality, which Moyers dubbed the “Equal Access Provision of the Internet,” became a broad public issue “that once again reminded the powers that be that people want the media to foster democracy not to quench it.”

Moyers called our campaign critical, as soon virtually all media will be delivered to homes via a single high speed broadband connection.

“This is the great gift of the digital revolution and you must never let them take it away from you,” he said.

“Without equality of access the Net will become just like cable television where the provider decides what you see and what you pay.”

Moyers highlighted SavetheInternet.com’s grassroots and online organizing efforts, saying that Washington “hadn’t reckoned with this movement.”

“Free Press and SavetheInternet.com orchestrated 800 organizations, a million and a half petitions, countless local events, legions of home-made videos, smart collaboration with allies in industry and a top-shelf communications campaign,” he said.

“Who would have imagined that sitting together in the same democratic broadband pew would be the Christian Coalition, Gun Owners of America, Common Cause and MoveOn.org. And who would have imagined that these would link arms with some of the powerful new media companies to fight for the Internet’s First Amendment.”

Speaking about the recent agreement by AT&T executive Ed Whitacre to adhere to strict Net Neutrality as a condition of his company’s $86 billion merger with BellSouth, Moyers said, “AT&T had to cry uncle.”

“The agreement marks the first time that the federal government has imposed true neutrality — oops equality — on an Internet Access Provider since the debate erupted almost two years ago.”

Bill Moyers' Complete Speech on Net Equality...

Part 1



Part 2

Add This Article To:
Del.icio.us	Digg	Google	Spurl
Blink	Furl	Simpy	Y! MyWeb