The following is a letter which I have sent to my representatives in Washington.

I am writing you today about an alarming DOJ press release #07-682. This release relates to “Network Neutrality” of the Internet. Please allow me to elaborate how the DOJ views such as, “precluding broadband providers from charging content and application providers directly for faster or more reliable service ‘could shift the entire burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto consumers'” are flawed and misunderstand the very nature of the Internet.

The Internet was built for easy, redundant distribution of information from one computer to another. Taken another way, “content and application providers” are actually every user on the Internet, not just Google or Amazon. Each user has the ability to use their computer to provide “content” or host an “application”. This is inherently the great power of the Internet. No longer is the ability to provide information to anyone in the world restricted to the very powerful or wealthy. Each person’s PC, no matter who they are or where their connection is, is able to communicate with anyone else’s PC with the understanding that the information will reach the other as soon as possible. The DOJ mentions “differentiating service levels” as if these service levels do not exist, but they are present with connection speed pricing. I can currently sign up for AT&T’s broadband Internet service at two different levels 1.5Mbps for $19.99 and 3.0Mbps for $29.99. Comcast also offers different levels of service, one cost $19.99 for 4.0Mbps and $49.99 for 6.0Mbps. This pricing method is simple and fair for all. If I wanted even more speed, I can contact business providers.

Please protect the open and extremely valuable resource that our great country has created. Large corporations understand that if they are given permission to shape Internet traffic as they please, they stand to make extremely large amounts of money. However, this traffic shaping would be at the cost of the very freedom that the Internet has created. No longer would one person be allowed to share their digital creation with everyone else freely. For example, AT&T has a service called which streams live concerts to users on the Internet. If AT&T, controlling one of the largest networks within the Internet, were given permission to shape content and application traffic, they could immediately degrade the transmission speed of any competitor that offered similar content. Eliminating competition with the throw of a switch would be very convenient for large corporations that maintain vast parts of the Internet.

All users of the Internet already pay for their connection. Please do not allow the DOJ or anyone else to persuade you otherwise. The freedom of information and communication at maximum speed is imperative for the USA to remain competitive in this new high speed world. I invite you to visit the website http://www.speedmatters.org (which I am not affiliated with at all) for more reasons why the DOJ’s opinion is wrong and anticompetitive in itself.