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Sarah Fiordaliso is a seventh-grader at Sweet Home [NY? OR? other? -- David I] Middle School. Her powerful, articulate letter, excerpted below, explains why we need Network Neutrality as well as anything I've seen. It appears in New Moon magazine's January/February issue titled "Letter to Congress."

Imagine this: your best friend moves away. Luckily, she keeps an online journal, so every day you sit down at your computer to read it. Today, her journal takes a long time to load. You tap your feet, glance through the newspaper lying on the computer desk, and click on your browser's "refresh" button several times. The page still won't load. Frustrated, you decide to come back and try later. But the same thing happens. You notice that Google still loads quickly, so you know your Internet connection isn't broken.

This could be every girl's experience if we didn't have something called network neutrality. Network neutrality is the equality that all Web sites share . . . Congress is debating whether we need a law that protects network neutrality. If Congress doesn't pass the law, Web sites of big companies that can afford to pay more would probably load faster than your friend's blog or New Moon's homepage.

<snip>

Network neutrality is especially important to girls, since the Internet is one of the best places to use your freedom of speech. For example, if you've written a story, it's hard to find someone to publish it. Publishers, not writers, have control over what people read. But if you post something on the Internet, YOU have control. Taking away network neutrality silences girls' voices. The Internet is a place for all of us. Let's keep it that way.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Thanks to Tim Karr at savetheinternet.com for the pointer.

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