| Over the course of the next week, we're going to be holding an experiment in using the internet to help create legislation. Senator Durbin, one of the Democratic leaders in the Senate, is asking for our advice and help to craft a national broadband strategy. He's asking for the public to participate in government, and to use the most populist medium ever devised to do it. A variety of industry and public interest representatives are going to be a part of this discussion. You will see, in some manner of speaking, how the process of legislating works. And your blog posts and comments will be put on par with those of telecom and industry experts. At the end of the discussion, Senator Durbin is going to take our feedback and use it to craft a bill.
This is a first of its kind collaboration, but hopefully it will not be the last. Like many of us in the blogs, I came into politics through the electoral angle, principally by being a part of the Bush-Kerry contest in 2004. The net neutrality discussion in 2005 was my first experience in legislative coalitions. With very little attention in the traditional media, the conversation over the issue of network neutrality nevertheless took place in public, online, and our words and ideas actually had a big impact in Congress. Subsequently, the conversation has moved to the states, and now, to the FCC, where there's a furious argument on the public airwaves among public interest groups, telecom and cable companies, public safety officials, Google, and the public itself.
At stake is not a set of wonky policy details, but a fundamental vision of how Americans communicate and relate to each other. Is the internet, and broadband access to it, something to be held for people who only live in certain geographic areas? Is the internet a content delivery vehicle offering a wider choice of content than any previous medium, or is it a public space to nurture democracy? The set of incentives put into our airwaves and our national wireline infrastructure is the physical answer to these moral questions.
In other words, it's now time to begin to figure out our vision for a universal internet. You're going to hear from people with whom you don't agree. There are real and massive stakes in this fight. Legislating is often known as a sausage factory, or a contest of interests done in private. And in fact, I think a lot of the negative impressions of our lawmaking bodies comes from the secrecy of the process. With the internet, we can put everyone and every lobbyist on a level playing field, and have a genuinely open contest of ideas.
So leave a comment for Senator Durbin. On Tuesday, at 7:00pm, he's going to respond to comments and questions. If you link to this conversation from your own blog, he'll read that post as well. This is a collaborative project, meant to include as many voices as possible.
The internet opens up a lot of new possibilities for our republic, and hopefully, we'll explore them together. |
