This is a copy of a letter I just got from eBay. I had heard rumblings about this a week or so ago but this is more confirmation of it. This is a VERY important issue for sites like Armorama so please read and take action if you can by contacting your representatives in Congress.

Net Neutrality and the eBay Community: A Call to Action

As you know, I almost never reach out to you personally with a request to get involved in a debate in the U.S. Congress. However, today I feel I must.

Right now, the telephone and cable companies in control of Internet access are trying to use their enormous political muscle to dramatically change the Internet. It might be hard to believe, but lawmakers in Washington are seriously debating whether consumers should be free to use the Internet as they want in the future.

The phone and cable companies now control more than 95% of all Internet access. These large corporations are spending millions of dollars to promote legislation that would divide the Internet into a two-tiered system.

The top tier would be a "Pay-to-Play" high-speed toll-road restricted to only the largest companies that can afford to pay high fees for preferential access to the Net.

The bottom tier -- the slow lane -- would be what is left for everyone else. If the fast lane is the information "super-highway," the slow lane will operate more like a dirt road.

Today's Internet is an incredible open marketplace for goods, services, information and ideas. We can't give that up. A two lane system will restrict innovation because start-ups and small companies -- the companies that can't afford the high fees -- will be unable to succeed, and we'll lose out on the jobs, creativity and inspiration that come with them.

The power belongs with Internet users, not the big phone and cable companies. Let's use that power to send as many messages as possible to our elected officials in Washington. Please join me by clicking here right now to send a message to your representatives in Congress before it is too late. You can make the difference.

Thank you for reading this note. I hope you'll make your voice heard today.

Sincerely,

Meg Whitman
President and CEO
eBay Inc.

With the composition of the Cable/Telephone companies - i.e. their subsidiaries, a lot of the real power in the 'U.S.' companies is in the hands of a lot of corporate stockholders in other parts of the world. What does this mean, that the 'Big' Players in the international Telecoms business (Telefonica, BT, DT etc. etc.) are now controlling vast percentages of U.S. telephone stock which ultimately shifts it from a 'Domestic' problem to one which is going to have global implications...

'Ma' Bell nowadays speaks with many different accents - not all of them English...Jim

I received that letter last night - I just went into Ebay and checked it out. If you are an Ebay member just follow the links and fill out the info - they do all the work for you - very easy.

I have just read all of the pre requisite form info release and I am extremely uneasy about it. I like the idea of fighting and winning out over the two-tier net immensely,however,e-Bay's idea of doing so is just getting a bunch of people in touch with each other for info sharing and 'gatherings'. e-Bay's disclaimer excludes e-Bay from any involvement,responsibility,or support other than member info sharing. E Bay has a tremendous amount of future at stake and it seems they don't want to take any risk whatsoever. I also don't feel like getting hacked or spammed into the next century by having e-Bay release this info.
sorry,try again with more commitment,e-Bay
Rick

Rick,
I too did not go thru the eBay system of "getting in-touch" but I put the link there because it was in the text and I figured people would ask if it wasn't.

I will be making my own direct communications with my representatives in congress to let them know that I don't like the idea of a 2-tiered system.

Why can't they just leave the Internet alone and let it be. Argg...

Jim

Money

Henk

This is something that we must fight to keep. We can't let the phone companies take this kind of control. If we do, we will lose the support of great sites like armorama due to increased costs to them and to us.

I understand not wanting to get spam and all the extras. However if you go throgh the links on e-bay there is a spot where you can elect to not recieve additional information. IF you don't want to go through e-bay (which writes the letter for you to your 2 state senators and your house representative) please write them yourself.

As US citizens we pride ourselves on our freedoms. Please fight to keep it that way and block the communitcations companies intentions. I think between phone bills and cable bills and internet provider service bills they make enough money as it is.

Sean Lynch

Thanks Matt for sending me the link to this article. This problem is already happening wether your seeing it or not. In New Jersey, for the past several months, Comcast Cable and Verizon Telephone have been in a huge smear campaign against each otherAt the moment, Comcast has the monopoly on high speed broadband service, and they're pissed because Verizon is coming into the area with their own TV and broadband services. Comcast broadband service is 42 bucks a month right now for "residential". I hagve it at home. I also own a transmission repair shop near Atlantic City, and I "had" com,cast broadband there until last week when it mysteriously shut off all by itself. Hmmmm.....Well, today I finally had a chance to call them to find out What the heck! happened. Apparently, BUSINESSES pay MORE for internet access then private residences. In fact, the differance was another $28 a month additional and I use the damn internet way less at work then I do at home! I was pretty bent out of shape when I heard this and also that they just decided to shut my services OFF so I would call them and they could raise my rates. Well, after telling off the comcast rep, I cancelled my service. Here is where the story gets funny. I dont just get mad with people when they try to screw me, I get even. As luck would have it, at my shop, we repair all the transmissions on Comcasts work vans and trucks. I informed the sales rep of this. As well, I also told him that while I charge them LESS money for repairs to their vehicles then I do to the general public (since they are technically a fleet account), I will now be charging 35-40% more (as they do) then I charge the general public since they feel businesses should pay MORE then every one else. the sales rep was rather speechless and just kept insisting how their service is the best. Well, for what I do, there are only two other transmission shops within an hours drive of me, and I happen to know the owners of both of them. So I called them also. They also hate comcasts service and prices, so I told them this story, and they agreed if they get any work from them, they will charge them the same as I will be charging them from now on. So, for repairs to their vehicles at least, they are screwed and will continue to get screwed until they change their policies and treat everyone fairly and reasonably (which I am sure will never happen). For those of you who provide any services to your ISP's, if possible, you can fight them back better by hitting them where it hurts; their bottom line. As fate would have it, I have two of their vans which need transmissions in my parking lot right now. Their bills would normally have been around $1400.00 for each transmission. They just went up to $1900.00 and instead of being done in 2 days, I think they will probably take a week or so to complete. And if they dont like it and go to either of my friends shops, they're going to get the same bad service with the same high prices. Well, just wanted to share that with you guys to let you know someone payed them back for a change!

I like Gary's (troubble27) response !!

Of course the cable & phone folks are at it -- the phone guys claim franchises are undemocratic, but those franchises are the only reason outlying areas get any service at all. Phone companies want to give spot service to the wealthy & ignore everyone else.

OTOH, and more to the point of the original post, I pay somebody, specifically my cable company, to use the internet. Fine, I agree that I should & it doesn't bother me that I do -- it's a better value than what I pay for the TV part.

But I do not think a lot of major internet entities actually pay for the bandwidth they consume -- and I think that they should. This in fact is the crux of the bill cited in the first post. All of us peon users are paying at the bottom end -- but the big folks at the top end are not, in an equivalent manner, and I think they should. So the Ebay "plea" is a bit disingenuous - they want to be free, but they're not worrying about you.

Frankly, screw 'em ... along with the cable & phone folks ...

John

First, I want to say Thank You to Jim for going "outside the box" and posting this issue. It is truly an important one for all of US.

I wish I had read Ebays fine print. I used the link and took the easy way out but now regret it after reading Rick's response. I'm bracing for the hellstorm of solicitations that will undoubtedly follow. I already hold ebay in contempt due to their "censorship" and now they dodge any committment to a cause while they are undoubtedly going to benefit from any positive action.

Having said that, Ebay did make it easy for my voice on the issue to be heard. Dealing with ebay is always kind of a catch-22.