24 Hours in Democracy: Take Back the Net

by Benjamin L. Combee, 22 Feb 1996

All of my life, I've grown up proud of the civil liberties that Americans enjoy. I remember reading books about the Bill of Rights back in the 3rd and 4th grade. I remember earning my Citizenship in the Nation merit badge when I was a Boy Scout. I remember my first vote, done absentee when I was a student at Georgia Tech.

This CDA language in the telecom bill has me worried. It seems so clearly unconstitutional and wrong, yet over 400 representatives of the American people voted it into law. Not all of them knew on what they were voting, of course. That is disturbing in itself.

I'm also concerened about the rest of the language in the telecom bill. Communication is the essential human activity. This bill gives large powered commercial interests a high level of control over the way communication will occur in the future. Corporations are not human beings. They do not have human concerns as their primary reason for existing. Governments are also not human beings, but they do contain a certain level of fairness. Democracy recognizes all because they are human beings, not because they are rich or they are in a special class.

I've lived with the Internet for five years now. It is essential for my day-to-day communication. This transformation of it, both by commercial and governmental sectors, has me worried. Companies have unchecked power and governments have guns. Neither is a good thing.

Let's take back the net. Let's do all that is possible to rescind these content restriction measures. Let's fight the abusers of this electronic community. Let's do it now!

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I got linked in twice by mistake. I thought my first submission had gotten lost, so I resubmitted but with a different URL. Feel free to follow either path!

Ben Combee (finger info)
combee@techwood.org