The Weekend

(I have never written a letter to any politician before today. Here is the letter I sent.)

Dear Sir,

I am quite concerned about the stagnation of the Net Neutrality discussions in the Senate. I think that keeping the Internet Free from unnecessary regulation is one of the most deceivingly pressing matters that has been raised in a while. It is a complicated issue, but what isn't complicated is what is at stake. What is at stake is the potential innovation, and subsequent revenue, profits, jobs and shareholder value that could be created with a free Internet.

If this government allows phone companies and other Internet service providers to impose a system of special treatment to the highest bidder on the Internet, then this government has failed its people, because the Internet is like the American dream itself.

Individuals who are willing to tinker around and try to invent things have been able to create a lot of value for the world by having the Internet be free from specialized treatment. Without this freedom, we wouldn't have Ebay, Amazon.com, Craigslist, or even Google.

Just think about the amount of value that those companies provide alone. And now think about the value of the dreams that those companies provide to learning computers everywhere. Every one of them believes that if they have a good idea, they can help people, and make a living doing it by providing an innovative service on the Internet.

If you allow phone companies and other Internet service providers to designate a "fast lane" for certain types of traffic, you are stifling this potential innovation, potential future shareholder value, and the dreams of these people who might someday create the next great service or product.

I know that the phone companies and ISP's like to claim that there is a lot of innovation and money involved on their end in running their business, but they are clearly outnumbered by the amount of innovation that has taken place on the user side of things. Users think up an idea, implement on a smaller scale and are then acquired by larger companies to help scale to larger audiences. Without Net Neutrality, these ideas never come to be.

The only result of this is that ISP's will be allowed to segregate the rich companies from the poor ones, regardless of who has the best idea. This isn't good for anyone except the ISP's who stand to put more money in their pockets even though they aren't providing anything different in terms of service.

So please understand this issue and fight to make sure that the Internet stays free. The potential innovators in this country depend on it. This country's competitiveness with the rest of the world depends on it.