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Did I really get an email from Meg Whitman? Yes, but so did every eBay user.

eBay recently sent an email to what seems to be their entire user base with the following headline: “Net Neutrality and the eBay Community: A Call to Action”. This is an interesting approach to reaching out to eBay users to become involved in a cause.

Is this considered spam? To me, yes. I consider this the same as eBay sending me an email promoting the presidential nominee eBay officially supports.

I have posted very limited on the issue of net neutrality, simply because it is a very well covered topic across all mediums. I am not going to write a post taking sides, but I do want to mention that I am sick of this topic being treated like a campaign. Both sides have been attacking each other for the last year. Both sides have blurred to the topic so much that the American public, already confused about what the issue really means, has no idea which side to be on. Why? They don’t understand. Hell, I am starting to get confused and I live in the internet world.

What I do know is that both sides do not care about the consumers but both sides are playing that angle. Both sides have a lot to gain and a lot to lose by the decision this piece of legislation entails.

What’s better for us? It’s hard to tell. But here’s what Meg has to say:

Dear [MyEbayNickname],

As you know, I almost never reach out to you personally with a request to get involved in a debate in the U.S. Congress. However, today I feel I must.

Right now, the telephone and cable companies in control of Internet access are trying to use their enormous political muscle to dramatically change the Internet. It might be hard to believe, but lawmakers in Washington are seriously debating whether consumers should be free to use the Internet as they want in the future.

Join me by clicking here — http://www.ebaymainstreet.com/netneutrality — to send a message to your representatives in Congress.

The phone and cable companies now control more than 95% of all Internet access. These large corporations are spending millions of dollars to promote legislation that would allow them to divide the Internet into a two-tiered system.

The top tier would be a “Pay-to-Play” high-speed toll-road restricted to only the largest companies that can afford to pay high fees for preferential access to the Net.

The bottom tier — the slow lane — would be what is left for everyone else. If the fast lane is the information “super-highway,” the slow lane will operate more like a dirt road.

Today’s Internet is an incredible open marketplace for goods, services, information and ideas. We can’t give that up. A two-lane system will restrict innovation because start-ups and small companies — the companies that can’t afford the high fees — will be unable to succeed, and we’ll lose out on the jobs, creativity and inspiration that come with them.

The power belongs with Internet users, not the big phone and cable companies. Let’s use that power to send as many messages as possible to our elected officials in Washington. Please join me by clicking here right now to send a message to your representatives in Congress before it is too late. You can make the difference.

Thank you for reading this note. I hope you’ll make your voice heard today.

Sincerely,

Meg Whitman
President and CEO
eBay Inc.

technorati tags:net neutrality, meg whitman, ebay, campaign

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