This is BIG. This is NASTY. A number of large telephone and cable companies, like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner, want to be Internet gatekeepers! If they get what they want, they will be able to decide which Web sites can make use of the fast lanes on the Internet and which ones will have to crawl along. Certain content providers, after they have paid a load of money, will be privileged. Even more they want to discriminate between "favorable" search engines and others. In short, they will control what is brought to your home. No, I am not being paranoid at all. The threat is very real.

At the moment it is a US affair, but if this can't be stopped there, it won't stop anywhere. There is collateral damage to be expected for libraries, for the Open Access movement and for much more that is dear to us. No less than the free flow of information is in danger!

An organization called SaveTheInternet will try to stop this. The strong point of the Internet has been, and should be, that everyone can use it. And what's more, that everyone (as someone has named it) can start small and dream big. A free flow of information is vital for our economy, for our sciences, and for our personal well being. The issue has been named "Net neutrality" and "Net neutrality" is what's at stake if we don't speak up.

More information about the SaveTheInternet coalition is on their website. There you'll find a clear statement of the principles of Net neutrality, the better known members of this coalition, a weblog, and a FAQ.

This has to stop!!