For the loser now, will be later to win.
For the times they are a-changin'
This neatly summarizes the current network neutrality debate.
Advocates for network neutrality will lose this year. AT&T and Verizon will be allowed to try and favor certain companies (Yahoo) and their Web sites over everyone else. They will be allowed to turn their lines into Cable TV lines.
But something interesting is going on. Folks are noticing. MyDD has noticed. Public Knowledge has prepared a YouTube video on the subject. Online leftists like Atrios and Think Progress have talked it up. American Progress has written about it and (as previously noted) Moveon.org has launched a petition drive about it. FreePress has a petition on it, and on Monday a coalition including Google will launch a Web site called Savetheinternet will launch dedicated to the issue.
Right now all these people, and the experts lined up on their side, and the giant companies allied with them, are not enough to carry the day.
But there is an election coming in November. The deck is going to be scrambled, for reasons unrelated to this issue.
There is not enough time between now and November for companies like AT&T to take real advantage of what the Congress is giving them. The Right is not going to be able to kill unlicensed spectrum this year.
When the political pack is shuffled, the phone companies and cable companies are going to find they have won nothing but emnity from the coming votes. They will have seen millions of customers educated on the issues, and they will likely have Democratic majorities ready, willing, and able to jump down their throats.
The net neutrality battle will be lost. But the war will be won.
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