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Al Franken for a free and open internet

The speaker who wins the prize for the most robust applause so far at SXSWi goes to SNL Senator Al Franken.

Not all from fans of Stuart Smalley either. He was speaking on a subject near and dear to SXSWi attendees, and he nailed it.

Franken came to Austin to “keep the internet weird,” a play on the famous local expression “Keep Austin Weird.”

“Let’s not sell out. And let’s not let the government sell us out,” he campaigned. “Let’s fight for net neutrality. Let’s keep Austin weird. Let’s keep the Internet weird. Let’s keep the Internet free.”

Network Neutrality, in general terms anyway, means there is equal access to every single site online – Facebook or Google loads at the same time as your neighbour’s mom blog.

“Net neutrality means that content – a web page, an email, a download – moves over the internet freely, and it moves at the same speed no matter what it is or who owns it,” he said. Read the full text of his speech here.

Of course, Franken was preaching to the converted. The little guys, who need net neutrality to make a living, are all here.

The thinking goes like this: every small-scale web entrepreneur needs to be able to reach an audience. For that to happen, there must be an egalitarian internet service, where both David and Goliath get equal treatment. No preferred customers.

Franken used the analogy of airline service, how coach and first class divisions are not workable online. But that’s what corporate telecoms are after.

“Leave the internet alone!” the Minnesota senator warned, again to great applause.

For believers in network neutrality, it has been a long, depressing battle. But Franken made a great, optimistic, empowering pitch.

Web start ups and entrepreneurs are now the small businesses that America holds dear. How often during the recession did lawmakers talk about small businesses as the economic engine of America, the job providers in bleak times?

The economy is still under siege, and Franken’s audience, the SXSWi attendees, the small businesses, are on the front lines. So, he argued, obviously congress, the Obama administration and all the other decision-makers (perhaps even our own legislators) will listen. Write them! Net neutrality!

@joshuaerrett

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