[GLLUG] Fwd: Don't Let Ma Bell Monopolize the Internet

[Caleb Cushing]

some of you may have already seen this and I hope no one considers this spam
as I am not trying to propogate spam. I hope you'll all consider sending a
message to stop "Ma Bell reborn" and to help preserve net neutrality.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ben Scott, Freepress.net <list at freepress.net>
Date: Oct 11, 2006 3:05 PM
Subject: Don't Let Ma Bell Monopolize the Internet
To: Caleb Cushing <xenoterracide at gmail.com>

  [image: free press action alert] <http://www.freepress.net/>   Dear
Caleb,[image:
Richard P. Merryweather] <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh8tJvbM1Ag>

*Watch Our Exclusive Interview with the Merger's 'Mastermind': Richard P.
Merryweather*

Part I: 'Merger and Me <http://action.freepress.net/ct/1per3Xn1LqVL/>'
Part II: 'Money Well Spent <http://action.freepress.net/ct/17er3Xn1LqVS/>'

Take Action Now <http://action.freepress.net/ct/Cper3Xn1LqVq/>

 The Justice Department today rubber stamped the $78 billion merger of AT&T
and BellSouth -- deserting its post as the public's shield against corporate
monopolies.

The merger now goes to the Federal Communications Commission for final
approval. The deal would effectively resurrect the Ma Bell monopoly that
ruled our nation's communications industry for nearly a century.

The only ones standing in the path of a new AT&T monopoly are citizens like
you. Tell the FCC:

*Don't Let Ma Bell Monopolize the
Internet<http://action.freepress.net/ct/Cper3Xn1LqVq/>
*

The merger of AT&T and BellSouth would create a network behemoth that
controls nearly half of all telephone land lines in the United States. But
the new AT&T presents a far greater threat.

Under the rule of CEO Ed Whitacre, the company is leading the effort to gut
Net Neutrality -- the longstanding principle that prevents phone companies
from controlling what you do, where you go and what you see on the Internet.


Soon all digital media -- telephone, TV, radio and the Web -- will enter
homes via a single broadband connection. Whitacre is trying to control this
"pipe" -- and the billions of dollars at stake -- by erecting new Internet
toll booths and discriminating against Web sites that can't afford their new
fees.

If the FCC doesn't place any conditions on the mega-merger, nothing would
prevent the new AT&T from taking away the free and open Internet that has
fostered unprecedented economic innovation and democratic participation.

The good news is that we have some allies at the FCC. Two of the four
commissioners who will vote on the merger have indicated that they will
support Net Neutrality conditions as part of any merger. But they need
strong public support to prevail.

*Tell the FCC: No AT&T Merger without Net
Neutrality*<http://action.freepress.net/ct/Cper3Xn1LqVq/>

Before the FCC rules, it needs to hear from you. Please forward this e-mail
to everyone you know.

 Onward,

Ben Scott
Policy Director
Free Press
www.freepress.net <http://action.freepress.net/ct/11er3Xn1LqVa/>

P.S. For more information on the AT&T-BellSouth merger, please visit:
www.freepress.net/att <http://action.freepress.net/ct/1der3Xn1LqVz/>

 P.P.S. For another take on the deal, watch our exclusive YouTube interview
with Richard P. Merryweather, president and CEO of CT&T Com:

Part I: "The Merger and Me <http://action.freepress.net/ct/1per3Xn1LqVL/>"
Part II: "Money Well Spent <http://action.freepress.net/ct/17er3Xn1LqVS/>"

 ------------------------------

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