Protect net neutrality

Protect net neutrality. Neutrality on the internet is the only way to allow democratic participation in communication, education, employment, community and public service, and to access to health, safety and other information.

Do not allow a few corporations to rule the internet, to censor what we see, to charge higher fees and deliver less.

None of the internet service providers invented or developed the internet and the web.

U.S. taxpayers paid for the early development. The defense and research network called ARPANET was online from 1969 into 1989. That became the internet. Research, development and expansion was courtesy of government—taxpayer—funding.

The World Wide Web arrived in 1991, courtesy of Tim Berners-Lee in particular. Berners-Lee, often while working at CERN (European Particle Physics Laboratory) in Switzerland, a network he called the World Wide Web. He championed Web openness to the point of not filing for intellectual property rights, not taking royalties and not selling his invention. He gave the Web to the public. He gave us net neutrality!

Do not give this global public resource to a few corporations no matter how much they “donated” to politicians and no matter how much they spend in advertising and hiring trolls to promote their ready objective.

Of course, the ISPs want to charge the public — you and me — more and deliver less.

Do not allow the FCC commissioners to give net neutrality away.

Fight for what we have.

—Anne Millbrooke

Bozeman