For those who love the Internet, who want it to remain a general-purpose technology and open tool for democratic participation, last night was a good night.
Net neutrality is a proposed FCC rule that would keep phone and cable companies from interfering with websites and technologies on the Internet. Obama campaigned on the issue (using his strong support to help differentiate him from Clinton’s campaign), as did sixteen Senate candidates in 2008, and many prominent governors, Congressmen, etc. have voiced support.
Last night, two big supporters of net neutrality won their primaries.
Joe Sestak, who defeated Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania primary, is strongly pro net neutrality. In 2006, when he ran for Congress, he wrote a post on MyDD called “Why I Support Net Neutrality.” He said: “I’ve looked at the facts, weighed the evidence, and I strongly believe that Net Neutrality is good for America.” In that post, he advocated for net neutrality primarily for our economy and our small businesses, and was also using the Internet to galvanize political participation (and raise money, directly from average individuals).
So is and Jack Conway, who won the Democratic primary in Kentucky for US Senate . In this clip, he explains that he was troubled by the DC Circuit case reversing the FCC’s network neutrality order against Comcast, and discusses the political potential of the open Internet.
That was just my quick take… If there are other pro-net neutrality candidates who won last night, let me know in comments.
So a big day for network neutrality.
Marvin Ammori 