Internet at risk?

Dear Editor,

According to Meg Whitman, president and CEO of e-Bay Inc., your rights to the Internet are in deep trouble.

The telephone and cable companies in control of Internet access are trying to use their enormous political muscle to dramatically change the Internet.

Lawmakers in Washington are seriously debating whether consumers should be free to use the Internet as they want in the future.

Phone and cable companies control more than 95 percent of all Internet connections. They are spending millions 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 over for everyone else. If the fast lane is the super highway, the slow lane will operate more like a low maintenance dirt road.

Today's Internet is an incredible open market place for goods and services, information and ideas. This would all be lost to the highest bidder. Individuals and small companies would be left out.

Please join in sending a message to Washington. Send e-mail to Senators Ben Nelsen and Chuck Hagel.

Also send a message to Representative Tom Os-borne. Yes you can look them up on the Internet. Tell them you want your Internet rights protected.

Thank you!

Dr. Gary L. Nielsen, D.C.

McCook