Protest at Google

Google - Don't Be Evil Rally

Google Corporate Headquarters

Amphitheatre Parkway and Charleston Road

Mountain View, CA

Friday August 13, 2010 Noon

Since late last week, when Google and Verizon announced their "deal" on network neutrality, a storm has broken out on the Internet, with over 300,000 people signing petitions decrying the corporate negotiation and standing up for the right of the people to have a say in how their communications system works. Talks between the Federal Communications Commission and industry leaders including AT&T and Skype, collapsed after word of the deal between the two leaked out.

The agreement, while upholding some basic tenets about transparency from providers on their network practices, creates huge loopholes for the large media corporations ; including an exemption for wireless networks, and the ability to prioritize some content over others.

These would be major changes from standard operating procedure on the web as we have grown to depend on it - and point towards an Internet future of largely unregulated wireless networks replacing utility-style wireline services. Paid prioritization of content can lead to fast lanes and slow lanes on the Internet - with the public interest largely relegated to a slower and less desirable backroad on the worldwide web.

We cannot let the Internet go the route of broadcast and cable, industries that also relentlessly fought regulation, and which consistently fail to provide the information we need for a vibrant democracy and a just world.

On-line advocacy group Moveon.org is calling for a rally tomorrow, Friday August 13th at Google corporate headquarters at 12:00 noon. Google is located in Mountain View at the intersection of Amphitheater Parkway and Charleston Road.