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Comcast hardly Internet neutral

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February 28, 2008|By MIKE HIMOWITZ

Verizon's rationale: It has the right to prohibit services that "promote an agenda or distribute content that, in its discretion, may be seen as controversial or unsavory to any of our users."

Well, George W. Bush may be unsavory to me, and Hillary Clinton may be unsavory to you, but does that give your cell phone carrier the right to prohibit political speech or text it doesn't like over airwaves that you and I own?

Seeing a public relations disaster looming, Verizon backed off quickly and NARAL's messages went through to it's subscribers. But you can see where the notion of a non-neutral or proprietary network can lead - regardless of who owns it.

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Democrats are likely to push Net Neutrality legislation in Congress next year if the FCC doesn't act soon. This is an issue you should be concerned about.

For a good look at the Net Neutrality side, visit www.savetheinternet.com. To hear from those who oppose Net Neutrality regulation, visit www.handsoff.org.

For a video of the FCC's hearing at Harvard, visit www.fcc.gov and look for the En Banc Hearing on Broadband Network Management Practices.

mike.himowitz@baltsun.com

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