From: "Charlotte W Welch" <Charlotte.Welch@austin.utexas.edu>
To: <DNSTransition@ntia.doc.gov>
Date: Mon, Jul 3, 2006 3:24 PM
Subject: comments on how net is run

To Whom It May Concern,

I have been on the net since the beginning and have felt that it is a
pioneering adventure. I would hate to see it so regulated that I does
not have an inkling of a resemblance of what it was. I believe that Net
Neutrality is the key to keeping the net free and open as a media. Net
Neutrality ensures that all users can access the content or run the
applications and devices of their choice. With Net Neutrality, the
network's only job is to move data - not choose which data to privilege
with higher quality service. Net Neutrality prevents the companies that
control the wires from discriminating against content based on its
source or ownership. It was founded on the premise of the sharing of
information. The net ideal is that it will be available to every person
on the planet where they have access to ALL the websites on the net
(major commercial sites to individual personal sites and blogs, etc.)
not the ones chosen for us by someone else that is regulating the
information like a capitalistic corporate conglomerate that only has
profits on its mind. The internet based on freedom needs to be free for
all to explore all aspects of information based on choice. Do not take
our choices away, our freedom. The internet is a crucial engine for
economic growth and free speech based on the first amendment of our
constitution. It's a place where everyday people can have their voices
heard by thousands, even millions of people. Keep it out of the hands of
the lobbying corporations and keep it in the hands of the people.

Search engines need to be more intuitive to the information searched for
by the public. It is harder now to find something I am searching for
than it was 10 years ago. I have to troll through pages of unrelated
sites because they contained the word or phrase that I was looking for
where by I might find one site worthy of my search. Searching tends to
waste time and time is precious when seeking answers. We need some
original thinking on creating a search engine that can narrow down a
search so time can be conserved for the task at hand.

Architectural design of the information could also be renovated into
something that could help with searches. All the porn needs to be
separated out of all other information into a separate category so when
a generic word is searched porn web addresses do not show in the list.
The so call filters available that filter out porn, filter out a lot of
other stuff that is not porn related and based on this they just don't
work.

I think the overall Architectural design of information could be greatly
improved on. Besides separating out porn, I think all commercial sites
need to be put into a separate category where you do not need to be
bothered by them unless you want to buy something. Along these lines a
major search engine system needs to be created for different categories
and that would eliminate a lot of the nonsense websites that waste time.
This is only an example that may help.

In general I use the net for information and entertainment. I think it
needs a lot of improvement on structuring of this information and how we
accessing it. We need to make sure that ALL websites are accessible by
all people.

The broadband issue can be incorporated in the accessing of ALL
websites. I do not see the problems with broadband the media talks about
except for placating the major corporations.

I do not want to see the internet become a censorship issue where by the
China ideal is incorporated in the US. I understand the internet is
global but as a FREE country based on FREEDOM the internet need to stay
free and open to all based on the America values laid out in the
constitution. The internet does not have to change into something
unrecognizable (inaccessible) because that will defeat the purpose that
it was created for.

Sincerely,

Charlotte Welch