Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA): Speak out and fight for your rights!

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Be Heard Contact Your Politician

It’s been close to a year since we began our battle with Time Warner, AT&T, Frontier Cable, Comcast and others over bandwidth caps. You and the ECA were the first to speak out on the subject and fight. Our efforts are leading to legislation being introduced that would protect us from price gouging.

Rep. Eric Massa has formally introduced H.R. 2902 the Broadband Internet Fairness Act. This legislation would prevent “the monopolistic rate increases of broadband companies by promoting the interests of broadband consumers.”

The internet is the economic and entertainment engine of our time. We don’t need the telecom companies increasing costs, while offering more bandwidth intensive services. Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) believes that gamers should be able to play the games they want on the internet. These user caps could limit or stop game play by arbitrarily and artificially limiting bandwidth in the name of network management.

You can read the full text of the bill at: http://massa.house.gov/uploads/BroadbandInternetFairnessAct.pdf

You can message the ISP’s directly at: http://action.theeca.com/t/2858/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2293

July 31, 2010

Subject:

Dear Congressman,

As a constituent and a video game player (“gamer”), I want to share my grave concerns about recently announced plans to cap my broadband usage rates.  I think this usage cap is unnecessary, unfair and unneeded.  That is why I am asking you to support H.R. 2902, the Broadband Internet Fairness Act.

First, the usage cap is unworkable for video game players.  The cap number is well below the maximum theoretical through-put for the lowest speed connection that's offered to users. So it’s going to stop me from playing the games I love, like World of Warcraft and Everquest.

I use the Internet for a multitude of purposes and I do not want to have those options limited by an arbitrary usage cap, which is a short term solution to network efficiency, because the cap is designed only for some current applications. If the Internet has shown one lasting trend, it is that innovation and applications on the Internet are changing faster than anyone can anticipate.  I should never have to budget my use of the Internet to exclude legitimate activities because of a service provider’s arbitrary limitation. The time I spend playing games online should never have to come at the expense of enjoying online video content or any other use of the Internet.

I am unwilling to accept the precedent this action sets: that limiting my choice of use is acceptable when it benefits the company I am paying to provide me access under the guise of network management. And as you may know, consumers cannot arbitrarily switch their internet provider; in most cases, the company that now wishes to price gouge me is my only option for internet service in my area.

It is in your power to stop this price gouging by Internet Service Providers, and I ask that you represent me, your constituent, by doing so.  If you have any questions on this or other similar issues please contact Jennifer Mercurio, the Entertainment Consumers Association’s Vice President & General Counsel, at jenn@theeca.com.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

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