July 20, 2006
By John Reinan, McClatchy Newspapers

We interrupt this Porky Pig webcast to bring you an important message about the future of the Internet. But first, a word from Ask a Ninja.

The loopy creativity from the outer fringes of the Web is coming front and center on an issue normally left to lawyers and lobbyists. Energized by a barrage of videos on blogs and websites, average Internet users are taking on Washington as Congress debates its first major telecommunications bill in a decade.

At stake is "net neutrality," an obscure regulation that has become the unlikely rallying point for an online crusade. Under net neutrality, Internet service providers must treat websites the same, routing all traffic with equal speed. That allows Web browsers to connect with a little-known blog as quickly as they can with Google.

The last time Congress passed a major telecommunications bill, in 1996, it got little attention from the public. But that was before the Internet made its way into three-fourths of U.S. homes and virtually all businesses. Prompted by dire warnings about the potential stifling of the Internet's creative spirit, more than a million Web users have signed electronic petitions asking Congress to keep the Internet neutral.

"The history of media policy in this country has been big companies making decisions behind closed doors," said Craig Aaron, a spokesman for SaveTheInternet.com, a Washington-based group in favor of net neutrality. "But we've seen this go from total obscurity to the center of the debate in this massive rewrite of the Telecommunications Act.

"It's certainly unprecedented for this kind of highly technical issue."

Both of Minnesota's senators reported a heavy volumes of calls, letters and e-mails about net neutrality.

"Oh, yes — we've heard a lot," said Chani Wiggins, a spokeswoman for Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton.

"It triggers a lot of emotion, especially in the way they've gotten the word out," said Leroy Coleman, a spokesman for Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

The videos for net neutrality range from the serious to the silly. Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee — developers of the Internet and the World Wide Web, respectively — make earnest pitches in online interviews.

At AskANinja.com, a black-clad warrior leaps onscreen and gruffly explains, with karate gestures, why the end of net neutrality would kill small websites and blogs. Clay figures are squashed in rapid-fire fashion at Rocketboom.com, representing the fate of the little guy facing the big telephone and cable TV companies on a non-neutral Internet.

And on "the most important episode of Vintage ToonCast ever," blogger Josh Cuppett takes time out from "Porky's Midnight Matinee" to urge viewers to get involved in the net neutrality fight.

Opponents of net neutrality also have their own blogs and videos, though they're not as numerous as those of supporters. One video, for the group NetCompetition.org, calls net neutrality "corporate welfare for e-commerce giants" and ends with a giant money bag dropping onto a hapless consumer.

It remains to be seen whether the webslaught by network neutrality advocates will change the fate of the legislation. The telecom bill, which eliminates net neutrality, was passed by the House last month on a 269-152 vote. It's had a tougher time so far in the Senate, squeaking out of the Commerce Committee on June 27 on an 11-11 vote.

Now the bill goes to the full Senate for a floor vote, where Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has promised to filibuster the measure unless net neutrality is included. The telecom bill won't be scheduled for a floor vote until it's certain that supporters of eliminating net neutrality have 60 votes — enough to break a filibuster, said Carolyn Weyforth, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

A spokesman for Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who is leading the Senate floor battle, said Stevens is "working on getting 60 votes."

John Stanoch, president of Qwest Minnesota, said he's surprised that net neutrality has become such a hot topic, but he said those who warn about diminished Web access are advancing "a bogus issue."

"We're not going to limit anybody's access to the Internet," Stanoch said. "We love selling our Internet products."