Marialle's Blog Spot

A letter from Eric Schmidt, CEO

Dear AdSense Publisher,

There'sa debate heating up in Washington, DC on something called "netneutrality" – and the outcome of this debate may very well impactyour business. Therefore, we are taking the unprecedented steps ofcalling your attention to this looming crisis and asking you to getinvolved.

Sometime in the next few days, the House ofRepresentatives is going to vote on a bill that would fundamentallyalter the Internet. That bill would give the big phone and cablecompanies the power to choose what you will be able to see and do onthe Internet.

Today the Internet is an information highwaywhere anybody – no matter how large or small, how traditional orunconventional – has equal access to everyone else. On theInternet, a business doesn't need the network's permission tocommunicate with a customer or deploy an innovative new service. Butthe phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all broadbandInternet access, want the power to choose who gets onto the high-speedlanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest. They want to buildtollbooths to block the on-ramps for those whom they don't want tocompete with and who can't pay this new Internet tax. Money andmonopoly, not ideas and independence, will be the currency of theirInternet.

Under the proposed "pay-to-play" system, small- andmedium-sized businesses will be placed at an automatic disadvantage totheir larger competitors. Those who cannot afford the new Internet tax– or who want to compete directly with the phone and cablecompanies – will be marginalized by slower Internet access thatwill inevitably make their sites less accessible, and therefore lessappealing.

Creativity, innovation and a free and openmarketplace are all at stake in this fight. Imagine an Internet inwhich your access to customers is constrained by your ability to cut adeal with the carriers. Please call your representative in Congress at202-224-3121. For more information on the issue, and more ways to makeyour voice be heard, visit www.ItsOurNet.org.

Thank you for your time, your concern and your support.

Eric Schmidt
CEO of Google Inc.

P.S. -- If you are unsure of who represents you in Congress, you can look them up by zip code at http://www.house.gov.And if you would like to stay informed about this issue, and otherpolicy issues affecting Google, you can opt-in to our policy mailinglist at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/googlepolicy/subscribe (powered by Google Groups).

Copied and Pasted the above letter from the official Google Adsense Blog.