Gigi Sohn Internet Quotations

The subcommittee missed an opportunity to maintain the free and open Internet that we have come to value over the years. The amendment ... would have set fair and reasonable boundaries on the conduct of telephone and cable companies which now will have control over the Internet, while guaranteeing the rights of consumers.

They're just two different visions of the Internet. I see the Internet as something that gives people the power, for the first time ever, to have a megaphone. These guys want to make a closed system.

We are disappointed but not surprised that the committee voted to turn over the future of the Internet to the telephone and cable industry. Neither of those two sectors contributed to the creative development of the Internet, and neither is known for innovation. They are known for their desire to control what goes over their networks.

The provisions will not stop the cable and telephone companies from degrading Internet traffic and they do not contain strong enough penalties to discourage misbehavior.

This bill needs significant improvement before it will preserve the open Internet that consumers and service providers expect and deserve.

We're concerned that even if you have a robust basic Internet and higher-speed lane, they will only make it available to their favorite partners, and that's discrimination.

It is vitally important that the Internet remains open and accessible to consumers and to service providers and remains the source of innovation it has been over the past two decades.

The future of the free, open and innovative Internet we have all enjoyed through the years is not guaranteed. If the bill before the House Commerce Committee gives control of the Internet to the telephone and cable companies, the Internet we have come to appreciate could well cease to exist, and it will be almost impossible to get it back.

Basically this merger will mean even less competition for broadband Internet, and frankly that makes a Net neutrality requirement even more imperative. If there was real competition in the provision of high-speed Internet access we might not be having this conversation, but now the world has gotten even smaller than it was before.

The Internet we're come to know and love is at risk.