Net Neutrality … Here We Go Again

This just in from all Net Neutrality advocates …

               

And it’s all because of Michigan.

For those of you just tuning in to the Granholm vs. Freedom/Technology/Jobs battle, I’ll recap.

It started with some out-of-state self-appointed Internet heroes jumping all over the Gov here and here for something that she hadn’t done yet. (Some of their more worldly readers even commented on the Michigan bloggers … that didn’t help their cause much) They then came over Nirmal’s blog to assure us that AT&T would screw us over, and that they were the only lobby fighting for the Internet. Actually there are plenty of people in Michigan who are fighting for net neutrality … and that’s REAL net neutrality, and not this misunderstood creature that Save The Internet embraces. So at this point, unless I’m the only one in my industry who read that comment, I can’t possibly be the only one who thinks this guy is a jackass.

After some backlash by the Michigan bloggers, Stoller and some Save The Internet folks issued a well-intentioned but back-handed apology for the manner in which they approached the Michigan issue. They explained that it was indeed partially their fault that the sky is falling, because they didn’t reach out to the bloggers, they didn’t educate us enough, they didn’t get to Michigan soon enough …. blah blah blah, and oh by the way, they also like Granholm … they “rooted” for her, but she got tricked by those big bad AT&T folks who are just too much for a little ol’ lady like her.

Yeah, forget about her Harvard law degree, forget about her experience in job creation, forget about her broad understanding in technology. The Save The Internet people know that she got played. They can’t give us details about how they know all that, but they can definitely, wholeheartedly assure us that Jennifer Granholm has been tricked into destroying the Internet, not just for Michigan but for all. other. states.

(Anyone have visions of an evangelical fundamentalist explaining that the reason you don’t believe in their version of God is that you simply aren’t capable? Your mind is too small.)

Despite the Gov’s assurances that she will take up the banner of net neutrality, MoveOn and jerks like this keep pounding away at her. Even if she does get nn legislation passed, MoveOn won’t support her because her agreement to this bill made it more difficult for other states to fight for net neutrality.

(Everybody take notice: MoveOn is in charge of legislation in Michigan)

Now by this time I’m so mad about all of this, that I started working on a series on debunking the myths of net neutrality. Not all of the debunking is favorable to the Save The Internet position (which I support, by the way) … but it’s about time the public fully understand what’s at stake with net neutrality. (It’s not just a matter of which websites you get to see)

So this morning I get up and check in on Michigan Liberal, and what do I find but yet another series of posts on how the sky is falling. No facts to substantiate the claims … just a bunch of claims. And some of the claims are even full on FALSE (bits aren’t bits aren’t bits)

Notice that nowhere, and I mean NOWHERE in this process have any of these saviors of the Internet mentioned the Michigan Telecommunications Act. These people claim to be experts … they claim to be fighting to save the Internet … yet they were nowhere to be found when SBC re-wrote the MTA. They weren’t shouting from rooftops then. They weren’t screaming about the sky falling. They weren’t trying to debunk the (probably false) promise of jobs when Mike Nofs was moving that bill through the legislature. The MTA did more than this video franchise bill to harm net neutrality … yet somehow, those of us who aren’t breaking out in hives over the passage of HB 6456 are stupid, or uneducated, or inexperienced, or in some other way inferior to these Internet warriors.

(Hey … Save The Internet … we could’ve used you when we were fighting the MTA. You weren’t here. So STFU.)

What’s sad about this whole thing is that I am in almost total agreement with these guys on the issue of net neutrality. I’m just getting really sick of their arrogance.

Just had to get that off my chest.

Click here for more idiots who don’t understand this issue.