Ferguson is about net neutrality, too

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/23/ferguson_is_about_net_neutrality_too_partner/



Tragedies like the one still unfolding in Missouri are exactly why we need an Internet that's accessible for all

Ferguson is about net neutrality, too
Michael Winship, BillMoyers.com
Saturday, Aug 23, 2014 01:00 PM EST

At the end of the classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Jimmy Stewart, as Senator Jefferson Smith, is in the midst of his filibuster against the corruption of the political machine that sent him to Capitol Hill as their lackey. Now he knows the truth and he’s taken over the floor of the Senate to tell it.

The nation is enthralled by his one man stand, but no one back in his home state is hearing the story: the machine controls all the newspapers and radio stations and even when the kids in Smith’s youth group print out a special edition of their own paper to try to tell his side, they’re run down by Boss Taylor’s goons.

Ultimately, Jimmy Stewart triumphs, of course, thanks to some handy, Hollywood-style deus ex machina, but just imagine if Jeff Smith and those kids had mobile phones, the Internet, Twitter and Facebook. Okay, maybe it wouldn’t have made for movie magic, but look at the power of today’s social media in the hands both of journalists committed to truth-telling and everyday citizens fighting back against injustice. And think of the loss to democracy if that ability to access a free and open Internet is taken away.

Yes, we’re talking about preserving Net neutrality, preventing the FCC from allowing the Internet to be split into fast lanes for the rich and slow lanes for the rest of us, lanes that could be clogged or blocked to prevent word from getting out about corporate and government malfeasance.