Amazon, Facebook, Twitter push net neutrality ahead of FCC rules

A who’s who of big-name tech executives — Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Evan Williams of Twitter, Eric Schmidt of Google, Barry Diller of IAC, John Donahoe of eBay, Erik Blachford of Expedia, and Kevin Rose of Digg — signed a letter of support for “net neutrality” today as FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski prepares to issue a set of proposed rules on the topic.

“An open Internet fuels a competitive and efficient marketplace, where consumers make the ultimate choices about which products succeed and which fail,” the group wrote in a letter to Genachowski. “This allows businesses of all sizes, from the smallest startup to larger corporations, to compete, yielding maximum economic growth and opportunity.”

The FCC has been the focus of intense lobbying in recent weeks as the federal agency crafts its proposed rules on net neutrality — the principle of treating all internet data equally. The debate is likely to get even louder once the FCC proposals are released.

Here’s the full text of the letter from the tech executives:

We write to express our support for your announcement that the Federal Communications Commission will begin a process to adopt rules that preserve an open Internet. We believe a process that results in common sense baseline rules is critical to ensuring that the Internet remains a key engine of economic growth, innovation, and global competitiveness.

For most of the Internet’s history, FCC rules have ensured that consumers have been able to choose the content and services they want over their Internet connections. Entrepreneurs, technologists, and venture capitalists have previously been able to develop new online products and services with the guarantee of neutral, nondiscriminatory access by users, which has fueled an unprecedented era of economic growth and creativity. Existing businesses have been able to leverage the power of the Internet to develop innovative product lines, reach new consumers, and create new ways of doing business.

An open Internet fuels a competitive and efficient marketplace, where consumers make the ultimate choices about which products succeed and which fail. This allows businesses of all sizes, from the smallest startup to larger corporations, to compete, yielding maximum economic growth and opportunity.

America’s leadership in the technology space has been due, in large part, to the open Internet. We applaud your leadership in initiating a process to develop rules to ensure that the qualities that have made the Internet so successful are protected.

Full pdf of the 1-page letter here. The two dozen execs who signed the document also include Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn; John Lilly of Mozilla; Craig Newmark of Craigslist; and Josh Silverman of Skype. – TechFlash

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