Well, this is not something I expected to be blogging: Senator Bill Frist has blogged about filing an Online Freeom of Speech amendment to the lobbying reform bill, and cites Cluetrain as one of this sources.

He says some good things about why we need to preserve freedom of speech online, although the concrete portion of the bill (judging from his post) seems to be aimed narrowly at keeping the Federal Elections Commission from regulating blog posts as part of campaign finance reform. So, I left the following comment:

As one of the co-authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto, I congratulate you on your defense of free speech in the online, connected world. A free and open Internet is one of the great forces for democratic open societies worldwide, and it’s so important that our own leaders embrace it as you have.

Unfortunately, the openness of the Internet is in very real danger. For example, Net neutrality – making sure the companies who provide the “pipes” don’t get to favor particular content that flows through them – is essential. Then, there are governments and industries that would strip the Internet of its anonymity, which is as good as handing dissidents over to their totalitarian governments. The current length of copyright – so far beyond what the our Founders envisioned – holds back the outpouring of ideas, culture and innovation the Net could set free. Even if the Internet weathers these threats, the digital divide is real and a real inhibition to the equal-to-equal connectedness that is the joy and hope the Internet brings.

So, thank you, Senator, for your strong words supporting that great American value, free speech. It’s heartening to have you join the struggle to keep the Net open and free. I hope you will just as strongly support the conditions that enable the Internet to be a global medium for free speech.

Sometimes the world is weird in good ways. (Thanks to Dan Bricklin for the link.) [Tags: cluetrain bill_frist]

Categories: Uncategorized dw