NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Announcing CFNN - "Consumers For Net Neutrality"
Announcing CFNN - "Consumers For Net Neutrality"
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000626.html
Greetings. Since the publication last week of the "Internet Pioneers
Speak Out on Net Neutrality" letter to the FCC, I've received a pile
of queries on network neutrality/transparency topics
( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000625.html ).
While many of these questions naturally relate to network
neutrality-related FCC actions expected tomorrow (October 22), others
quite appropriately note that in reality we stand at the very
beginning of a long and complex process, which ultimately will involve
not only technologists, regulators, ISPs, and other technology and
service firms, but also likely various courts and perhaps even the
U.S. Congress as well.
In others words, the one thing that we can be sure of is that Emerald
City is a long way down the yellow brick road, and we've yet to even
really step foot outside of Munchkinland
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INpR7GRzFNc ).
But the single question I've received the most over the last week or
so boils down to this, "What, as consumers, can we do to help in
network neutrality efforts?"
A great question, given that in the final analysis it's Internet
consumers of all stripes, from single moms to giant corporations, who
have the most to gain from network neutrality and transparency, and
the most to lose if these efforts ultimately are blocked or fail.
The concern has been expressed that many persons are reluctant to
participate directly over on NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
( http://www.nnsquad.org ), due to the sense of its being driven mainly
by hardcore technologists and their largely technical concerns, not
the broader range of consumer Internet interests.
Fair enough. I would assert that there's lots of overlap between the
two categories, but I do appreciate the dilemma.
So, as a partial solution, I'd like to offer CFNN (cfnn.us) -
Consumers For Net Neutrality (a.k.a. Consumers For Network
Neutrality), as an alternative venue specifically oriented toward
consumer Internet ideas, concerns, questions, problems, and any
related discussions ( http://www.cfnn.us ). And despite the ".US"
domain, relevant discourse involving any locales on the globe are very
welcome.
To get us rolling for now, CFNN leads to a new discussion forum hosted
under GCTIP ( http://www.gctip.org ). This is a threaded discussion
forum where anyone can read postings (directly or via RSS), and
registered users can post relevant messages and create new threads.
Postings are not pre-moderated, though inappropriate postings
violating the forum guidelines will be dealt with as deemed necessary.
Also, while I'm a fairly consistent Twitter poster myself these days
( https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein ), several persons suggested using
Twitter in a more expansive manner to help gather a broader sense of
consumer interest in net neutrality issues. So I've created the CFNN
companion Twitter account ( https://twitter.com/cfnn ). Please
feel free to Twitter "follow" this account to help demonstrate
solidarity with consumer net neutrality efforts and for related
announcements and discussions, of course.
As one major Twitter fan suggested to me that since Pee-wee Herman (!)
was able to achieve more than 100K Twitter followers in less than a
month, surely consumers interested in net neutrality can ring up some
significant fraction of that number in a fairly short order for
@cfnn ( https://twitter.com/cfnn ). So tell your friends!
Retweet! And so on. We shall see ...
One thing's for sure, the Internet is on the cusp of entering a brave
new world in many ways. Decades past the ARPANET experiments deep in
a UCLA basement, the Internet of today is rapidly becoming
fundamental -- literally -- to nearly every aspect of our lives.
The Internet should be for everyone. And this means that consumers
should be playing a leading role in setting its direction, not just
jerked along like a string of tin cans tied to the back of a telephone
company or cable TV installation van.
My hope is that CFNN ( http://www.cfnn.us) can help put consumers
firmly into the Internet driver's seat, where they truly belong.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein