Primary Focus - An Open Internet

So much is going on these days; the world is in such turmoil,  the importance of keeping the Internet open, unfiltered, and easily accessible cannot be overstated. 

Any strategy for affirmative and inclusive change depends on networked communication fostered by the Internet.  The first of all the Amendments to the U.S. Constitution affirms the fundamental right to free expression.   

In the world we know, the Internet has become civilization's nervous system. It allows us to communicate with each other quickly, easily, and cheaply in remarkably broad fashion. It gives anyone with a tablet or smart phone the ability to access countless nodes of knowledge and perspective.

The net is an opening to many pathways for growth and understanding.

The net is indispensable to the forging of public consensus, and should never be limited by any form of censorship.

In Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries,  the Internet has powered the 'Arab Spring'.  In every nation where the Internet is an unencumbered, open source of competing ideas,  at every level of governance - local, national, regional, and global - dialogues are ongoing that result in common purpose.

There are forces at work that don't support free expression, at least not when it involves ideas incompatible with their own.   People who are threatened by competing ideas don't want a free, open, and easily accessible net.  The corporate providers of internet services like Comcast want to be able to control the information their subscribers can access.  There are powerful interests who will happily pay big money to these providers to restrict what's available on the net.

Net Neutrality is the concept that assures a free and open internet. Free expression is a right affirmed by the 1st Amendment.  At this moment in Washington, lobbyists focused on the net are working their manipulation game in the halls of Congress. Their mission is to restrict net neutrality. We the people must be vocal on this subject. We must let our elected representatives know in no uncertain terms that any kind of legislated limit on open access to the net is unacceptable.

Here is a link to a group that is focused on protecting your right to an open internet...http://www.theopeninter.net/