Internet, Unite!

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We had all of them come to Minneapolis and we shot the video. But they also -- and I hope people are checking these out on the website -- did testimonials about what the internet means to them and how it was a platform for their artistry. They're heartfelt testimonials, and they're fairly serious. I mean the video is pretty wacky, but the testimonials are pretty powerful.

?How would you characterize WeAreTheWeb.org?

It's a public awareness campaign, a rallying cry for the independents on the internet, like the Peter Pan characters, to speak out for other independent internet characters.

?Why did you choose the format that you did? Why a music video?

WeAreTheWeb.org does have some text and links to articles and sites, but video just seems so easily passed around, and it seems more personal. If you can get a message across in an entertaining and humorous way, people are much more likely to listen to it and to feel good about it. Humor rules on the internet.

People opposed to net neutrality say it isn't really about neutrality at all -- that net neutrality calls for more regulations, if necessary, to keep the internet 'neutral.'

Net neutrality is definitely about regulating the internet more. I think [telecommunications companies] see that there's more money to be made without regulations -- that's why they want the two-tiered system. They can't really make any money off of, say, Peter Pan's site, but that site has every right to be out there. That's the genius of the internet -- it's access to anything, equally, and that's being threatened.

What do you think would be lost if telecom and cable companies had their way and create tiered service?

I think, like Leslie Hall put it, people wouldn't be able to learn about gem sweaters. She was being half serious about that, but the idea is that people would lose out on a lot.?

Watching the debate over net neutrality unfold, have you learned anything new about the way big business interacts with democracy in the United States?

You know, it's interesting -- companies like Google are on the side of net neutrality, and in their lobbying they didn't spend nearly as much money as telecoms and cable companies. I think seeing how much money [telecom and cable companies] willing to spend was a wake-up call for people who are pro-net neutrality. It's going to be hard to turn it around. Definitely in this Congress it seems like it has a much better chance -- net neutrality kind of breaks down largely as a democratic issue. [Senator] Ron Wyden and Representative Edward Markey are leading the fight to pass a net neutrality bill.

I recently stumbled upon the website 'Hands Off the Internet,' which sounds, and seemed, like a pro-net neutrality website. It advocates a totally unregulated internet. But then I found that it's actually dominated by telecommunication companies.

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