As Bill Callahan suggested, I e-mailed my congressman about Senate Bill 117. Here is what I wrote:

I would like to ask you to please vote against SB 117. Our state, as you know, has fallen behind the curve (as our country has) with technology. This will only be exacerbated by letting companies such as Time Warner and AT&T selectively serve areas of the community. It will be really easy for them to serve the most affluent of our citizens and leave the poorest out in the technology cold, further widening the digital divide between the technical haves and technical have nots. Profit, not equitable coverage, is their priority.

People take services like Road Runner for granted. Since Akron was a test market for Road Runner, it's been here 11 years and has provided decent service at a relatively stable price point (Road Runner's price has gone up once in 11 years). Some communities are still struggling to get broadband of any sort.

If we let these companies pick and choose who they want to serve with no say so from local communities, some executive in an office at AT&T will have more control over our entire telecommunications infrastructure than the sum of our entire population. I don't think that's very fair. It's important, in every business, for the community of customers to have a voice and to have someone look out for their interests. I don't see any such provisions in this piece of legislation.

I hope that you do consider voting against it. Thank you.