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Interview: Craig Aaron, Save The Internet

I interviewed Craig Aaron of Free Press and Save The Internet for my column on the blog swarm surrounding "network neutrality," but I did not receive his answers via e-mail in time to include any of his thoughts in the piece. As a fallback option, Aaron agreed to let me publish the entire text of the interview.

Beltway Blogroll: Tell me about the coalition and how it formed. I moderated a panel at the Online Politics Conference where Eli Pariser of MoveOn spoke passionately about this issue and the AOL "e-mail tax". What role did that speech have in the formation of the coalition?

Craig Aaron: We've been talking to a lot of our allies and acquaintances about this issue over the past few months. But it formed most directly out of the DearAOL campaign. Those were the first groups we reached out to in launching the SavetheInternet.com Coalition.

BB: Was there a conscious effort to reach out to bloggers? If so, why? What are the elements of that outreach, and what other ideas may be coming? Are blog ads part of it? If so, where are you advertising and how much are you spending?

CA: Yes. The net neutrality issue directly impacts bloggers -- who would never be able to overcome the barriers to entry if AT&T and its ilk create a two-tiered Internet. We reached out to a core group of bloggers who had already covered the issue and asked them to reach out to their networks. It was a grassroots (or netroots, I suppose) effort. Nearly 3,000 blogs are now linking to the site.

So far, we haven't bought any ads for SavetheInternet.com (though we bought some earlier to highlight the issue, as did Common Cause). All the logos and buttons for the site are being put up for free by the bloggers. (Same can't be said for Hands Off the Internet or Future ... Faster) [Editor's note: Those two groups are funded by the communications industry that opposes legislative effort to ensure neutrality for content on high-speed Internet networks.]

BB: Why should bloggers care about the push for net neutrality? How specifically might it affect the development of the political/policy blogosphere or the blogosphere more broadly?

CA: The freedom of the Internet is at stake. Why should we take away the collective decisions made by millions and hand them over to a few executives. The Internet has always been driven by innovation. Web sites and services succeeded or failed on their own merit. Without net neutrality, decisions now being made collectively by millions of users will be made in corporate boardrooms.

The choice we face now is whether we can pick the content and services we want, or whether the broadband barons will choose for us. Without network neutrality, the blogosphere itself might never have materialized. What blogs -- which are moving into video and other new technologies -- will be able to afford a spot in the fast lane? How will new voices find an audience? The cable-telco model will silence citizen journalists and put more power in the hands of corporate-owned media outlets.

BB: What kind of impact have the bloggers behind this push had already? Is the swarm changing votes in Congress? Are you hearing from the offices of lawmakers, and if so, what are they saying? Which lawmakers?

CA: They've had a tremendous impact. So far (with a few notable exceptions like The New York Times), the mainstream media have been largely ignoring this issue. The blogosphere has been driving this forward. They're the ones (along with the consumer and political groups) who've helped gather more than 600,000 signatures and direct tens of thousands of calls to Congress.

I give the bloggers a lot of credit for beginning to popularize this issue. We didn't win the House committee vote, but the momentum is shifting. Network neutrality is becoming one of the key issues in the Telecom Act rewrite -- and at this point no member can vote against Internet freedom saying they didn't understand the stakes.

I know Congressman Edward Markey has had briefing calls with bloggers. Many local bloggers are contacting and writing about their reps position on net neutrality.

BB: What projects/plans, if any, do you have for pushing the swarm forward and keeping it intact? Can bloggers really muster the consistent power necessary to beat the well-heeled telecom industry on its own turf in Washington?

CA: We're going to continue our outreach efforts, working to collect a million signatures and keep this issue front and center -- including a rally on the Hill and other things that are still on the drawing board. The telecoms and cable companies are spending a million bucks a week on TV in D.C. alone. But organized people can beat organized money.

It's an uphill battle. But as millions of Americans begin to learn about this issue --- and understand that the Internet as they know it is at risk -- they will hold their elected representatives responsible. If the tremendous response in just the first two weeks of this campaign is any indication, momentum is on the side of Internet freedom.

Check out these results as of Friday on Google Blog Search:
-- 2,749 = Blogs with links to www.savetheinternet.com.
-- 1 = Blogs with links to www.handsofftheinternet.com. And that one blog favors the savetheinternet.com position.

BB: While the swarm involves hundreds of blogs, there appears to be more of a partisan split on this issue than there was in the fight against the FEC. Why is that?

CA: I don't think there's a partisan split here. On the contrary, we're building a broad, grassroots, bipartisan coalition. We've seen lots of support, left and right, Republican and Democrat, business bloggers and even the founders of the Internet and World Wide Web.

Our opponents are trying to say this effort is being led by "MoveOn and Nancy Pelosi" -- but they know that the issue of Internet freedom resonates across party lines (why else co-opt so much of our language on their Astroturf sites and talking points?). Libertarians like Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) have signed on, as have groups identified with the right like the Gun Owners [of America] and the Parents Television Council. Any day now, we expect a bipartisan bill in the Senate supporting meaningful protections for net neutrality.

Sure, the cable [companies] and telcos have been spending lots of money on this effort, and on the surface their "don't regulate the Internet" argument has a lot of appeal to libertarian types. But as more bloggers do their research and begin to understand that net neutrality has always been part of the internet, and that these companies aren't really interested in deregulation -- just rules written in their favor -- they'll join this effort regardless of their political leanings.

Posted by Danny | 07:05 AM