[Mb-hair] Fwd: AOL belittles Internet advocates

[ccchaibutler]

This is important. Please sign and forward to all.
Love & Light, Reute


Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org Civic Action" <moveon- 
> help at list.moveon.org>
> Date: March 2, 2006 1:20:18 PM CST
> To: Reute Butler <ccchaibutler at austin.rr.com>
> Subject: AOL belittles Internet advocates
>
>
> Are you active in local community groups that depend on email to  
> communicate?
>
> AOL's email tax threatens the ability of nonprofits, charities,  
> small businesses, and others to communicate online.
>
> This week, 50 organizations launched a diverse coalition to stop  
> AOL's email tax. We need your help to grow it to 500.
>
> Can you help us reach out to groups in your community?
>
>
> Click Here
>
> Dear MoveOn member,
>
> If you are active in a local civic or community group that depends  
> on email to communicate with members, we need your help now—as we  
> work to stop AOL's email tax.
>
> AOL's proposed email tax would give membership groups a horrible  
> choice: pay for every email sent to "guarantee" delivery, or face  
> an increasing number of legitimate emails going undelivered.
>
> This week, a diverse coalition was formed to stop AOL's email tax.  
> Our 50-member coalition representing 15 million people was reported  
> on in over 400 media outlets across the world, 100,000 people read  
> our Open Letter to AOL online, and 300,000 people have signed  
> MoveOn's petition. Our voices are being heard—now help us make them  
> louder.
>
> Let's grow our coalition against AOL's email tax from 50 member  
> organizations to 500.Can you help recruit local organizations you  
> are part of? Individuals (like you) and organizations can sign our  
> coalition's Open Letter to AOL at:
>
> http://www.dearaol.com/
>
> When AOL was confronted with your criticism of its proposed pay-to- 
> send system, AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham told the Associated  
> Press, "There is no substantive news here...some disparate groups  
> of advocates have come together for an event reminiscent of the bar  
> scene in the first 'Star Wars' movie." AOL doesn't yet realize  
> regular people can make a difference. AOL, meet MoveOn.
>
> We know many MoveOn members are small business owners or are active  
> in community groups—PTAs, local environmental groups, religious  
> groups, charities, and others. Many groups you belong to depend on  
> email to communicate and would lose their effectiveness in the  
> world AOL is proposing—where the only ones who get reliable email  
> service are giant bulk-mailers who can afford to pay for every  
> email sent.
>
> For example, after quoting AOL's attempt to marginalize our broad  
> coalition with the "bar scene" comment, the Associated Press  
> described one of our coalition partners—a free online network for  
> cancer patients which cannot afford AOL's email tax, but which also  
> cannot afford the life-and-death consequences if their emails  
> aren't reliably delivered to cancer patients.
>
> Another coalition partner is Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.  
> Like MoveOn, Craigslist started small and never would have gotten  
> off the ground if AOL's pay-to-send policy had been in effect. The  
> magic of the Internet is that it is free and open to everybody—so  
> small ideas can become big ideas. AOL's email tax is a direct  
> threat to the free and open Internet, creating a two-tier system  
> that leaves the little guy behind.
>
> That's why we formed a big coalition—and need it to get bigger.  
> Already, it includes state organizations like the North Carolina  
> Harm Reduction Center, Marlyland League of Conservation Voters, and  
> Californians Against Waste in addition to national groups such as  
> the AFL-CIO, Gun Owners of America, the Humane Society, the  
> Association of Cancer Online Resources, the Democratic National  
> Committee, Democracy for America, the Community HIV/AIDS  
> Mobilization Project, Free Press, The Electronic Frontier  
> Foundation, Friends of the Earth, and others.
>
> Please help us save the free and open Internet by growing our  
> coalition from 50 member organizations to 500. Please reach out to  
> organizations you are a part of. Individuals and organizations can  
> sign our coalition's Open Letter to AOL at:
>
> http://www.dearaol.com/
>
> Thanks for all you do.
>
> –Eli Pariser, Noah T. Winer, Adam Green, and the MoveOn.org Civic  
> Action team
>   Thursday, March 2nd, 2006
>
> P.S. Please be sure to sign the open letter at www.dearaol.com and  
> if you have a website or blog, please consider helping the cause by  
> posting this "Stop AOL's email tax" graphic on your site:
>
> http://www.dearaol.com/action
>
>
> Subscription Management:
> This is a message from MoveOn.org Civic Action. To change your  
> email address, update your contact info, or remove yourself (Reute  
> Butler) from this list, please visit our subscription management  
> page at:
> http://moveon.org/s?i=6959-5752144-epT.oxzDz20qhVEiQp9IoA

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