Stop the COPE bill! Call your rep today!

[AllyCat]

I just got this from Common Cause:

Dear AllyCat,

On Wednesday, the House Commerce Committee will be voting on the absurdly-named COPE bill (Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act).

But the only "promoting" and "enhancing" this bill does is for the cable, phone and media interests that have poured nearly half a billion dollars into lobbying Congress over the past eight years to get the perks they so desire.

Please call your House member today. Ask Rep. Tammy Baldwin to vote NO on the COPE bill. The phone number is [phone]. The vote is happening on Wednesday, April 26 so your calls are needed today.

The COPE bill would:

*
Place control of the Internet in the hands of few powerful corporations;
*
Transform the Information Superhighway into a toll road, where only the rich get unfettered access to all that the Internet has to offer;
*
Vastly increase special interest monopoly power;
*
End consumer protections against abuses by cable companies;
*
Allow cable and phone companies to raise the prices in poor neighborhoods, while giving special deals to the affluent;
*
Expand the "digital divide" that puts the poor, racial and ethnic minorities and rural families at a disadvantage; and
*
Stifle innovation and economic growth, because it will be too costly for any new Googles or eBays to draw customers to their websites.

Rep. Baldwin's vote is critical to stopping this dangerous bill in its tracks. Please call today: [phone].

Just eight of the country's most powerful communications companies and their trade groups have spent more than $460 million lobbying Congress to gain all the favors in the COPE bill. Millions of your voices are necessary to block it.

Please call your Member of Congress today, and be sure to let us know how the call went on CommonBlog.com. Thank you for all you do for Common Cause.

Sincerely,

The Common Cause Media Reform Team
Lauren Coletta, Celia Wexler and Dawn Holian

[acmejack]

1. KnR

[JohnnyRingo]

2. This is the underrated story of the week

Being sold under the old corporate complaint of "protecting intellectual property", this bill will open the door to ownership of the internet and control of content thereof.

In our near lifetime we'll see "objectionable content" banned from view by citizens here in "Freedomville".

Of course corporations don't care about what we look at as long as they get rich, but with today's mergers, censorship will be more political than sexual as corporations seek to block information that we take for granted today.

If GE makes money on the war and they own a piece of the 'net anti-war info will become "objectionable" there.
If a corporation finds more profit from Republican politicians, expect Dem sites to become "pornographic".

Good post...Thanx.