A video posted last month on YouTube from Jesse Dylon of FreeForm in support of Net neutrality wants to touch your heart and has the music and images to boot. “This is a video we made about free and open web access. An Open Internet should be a right for all people, of all backgrounds, with all interests. Net Neutrality is for all of us,” reads the last moment of the screen with the sound of the piano.
Starring in the video are Net neutrality advocates Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School, Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, Vint Cerf, chief internet evangelist for Google, and Christopher Libertelli, senior director of government and regulatory affairs for Skype, among others. FreeForm says on its Web site that it gathered these individuals “to discuss the vast implications of limiting access” on the Internet. Currently, the Federal Communications Commission is considering proposed rules, so-called Net neutrality principles, to regulate Internet access.
On its home page, FreeForm, a multimedia production company, has pictures of celebrities such as Cameron Diaz, Gweneth Paltrow, Brad Pitt mingled with political figures such as former President Bill Clinton.
Very touching indeed…. Until you realize that the speakers have one thing in common. All of them receive money (or have in the past) from Google or Skype. (The speaker who speaks the longest, Vint Cerf, not only draws a salary from Google but has millions in options and stock.)
They are lobbying not for the benefit of the public but for regulation that will benefit these two corporations at the public expense.