Yesterday, I wrote about why the open web is under attack.  Today, as promised, the follow up on what to do about it.  I believe the single most important thing is to let Congress know that people actually care about this.  Big companies are spending a lot of money lobbying, but good old fashioned calling and faxing (yes, faxing, at least so I am being told by folks from DC) can make a difference.

Now “net neutrality,” while somewhat descriptive, is not a great term from a marketing perspective.  It sounds a bit like one is supporting blandness.  So what might you say to your representative and senator instead?  I suggest going with an analogy, something along the lines of: “I don’t want my cable/phone company controlling what I can do or see on the Internet – just like I would never want to be behind China’s firewall.  Please help us maintain our freedom of access.  Please support the FCC’s net neutrality initiative."  While this may sound a bit stark, that’s on purpose.  The core technologies of deep packet inspection are in fact the same in both cases and it is worth pointing that out in non-technical terms. In China you can’t get to many sites/services at all.  But imagine how your usage would change over time if some sites/services were a lot faster than others.

Now if you are wondering whom to call or fax, it is relatively easy.  You can look up phone and fax numbers based on your address.  If you read yesterday’s post, you might also wonder what to do about platform lock-in a the application/content layer.  More on that tomorrow.

Yesterday, I wrote about why the open web is under attack.  Today, as promised, the follow up on what to do about it.  I believe the single most important thing is to let Congress know that people actually care about this.  Big companies are spending a lot of money lobbying, but good old fashioned calling and faxing (yes, faxing, at least so I am being told by folks from DC) can make a difference.

Now “net neutrality,” while somewhat descriptive, is not a great term from a marketing perspective.  It sounds a bit like one is supporting blandness.  So what might you say to your representative and senator instead?  I suggest going with an analogy, something along the lines of: “I don’t want my cable/phone company controlling what I can do or see on the Internet – just like I would never want to be behind China’s firewall.  Please help us maintain our freedom of access.  Please support the FCC’s net neutrality initiative."  While this may sound a bit stark, that’s on purpose.  The core technologies of deep packet inspection are in fact the same in both cases and it is worth pointing that out in non-technical terms. In China you can’t get to many sites/services at all.  But imagine how your usage would change over time if some sites/services were a lot faster than others.

Now if you are wondering whom to call or fax, it is relatively easy.  You can look up phone and fax numbers based on your address.  If you read yesterday’s post, you might also wonder what to do about platform lock-in a the application/content layer.  More on that tomorrow.