Free Press, MoveOn.org and other critics of Google and
Verizon's agreement on network neutrality principles are trying to
stage a rally Friday at Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters.
In an e-mail call to arms, Free Press Online Campaign
Manager Josh Levy was looking for drivers to get people to the rally but
also said there was a bus that was leaving from San Francisco.
"FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski must denounce this deal,
but he won't stand up to this alliance of giant corporations unless we
show that the public is strongly against it," said Levy.
"The Google-Verizon plan would create two separate,
unequal sections of the Internet - a high-speed and exclusive fast lane
for big business, and a slow lane, the "public Internet" that would be
available to the rest of us," he said.
Google and Verizon have agreed that network neutrality
principles, including a nondiscrimination principle, should be made
enforceable by the FCC. But they have also agreed that most of those
would not apply to wireless broadband and that networks
should be free to provide online services, separate from the public
Internet, where content providers would be able to pay for faster or
higher quality service, say for high-bandwidth offerings like medical
imaging or video services like a season's worth
of operas in hi-definition (an example the companies used).
Free Press and MoveOn.org are joined by ColorofChange.org,
Credo Action, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. It is the
same coalition that dropped off petitions against the companies'
proposal--with what they said were over 300,000 signatures--to
Google's Washington offices earlier this week.
