After the last Walrus post, Anna pointed out that there’s far more behind the retiring-designer situation than pattern freebies on the Internet. Yes, ma’am, there sure is. How much shall we discuss?

Becca asked what we can do. Well, here’s one thing.

There’s been political buzz about Net Neutrality for some time. The Internet currently has a more or less level playing field. Data is data, and it all moves at the same pace. Info from the Funk & Weber website travels the same way and at the same speed as info from YouTube or AOL or CNN.

Net Neutrality is good for small businesses and people who want access to them. Verizon, AT&T, AOL, and Google, however, would be happy to have priority distribution. On the Internet they would create, info from AOL would zip right along because AOL paid for priority while info from Funk & Weber would be relegated to the slow lane because I don’t have the budget AOL has. If you want to see my site, you might have to be very patient.

It’s a croc.

Are you as sick of this crap as I am? Why can’t Big Business simply be happy with their Big Business? Why must they always seek more, more, more?

If you want to support the small business people in our small needlework industry, add your voice to those demanding Net Neutrality.

Send a message to Congress and the FCC. Tell them that you want equal, easy, and speedy access to small business websites. You can add your own words to the standard message in the box. I put mine at the top. Feel free to use strong language.

Next, sign Senator Al Franken’s Net Neutrality petition.

Ask any independent shop owner, small manufacturer, or designer and s/he will tell you it’s exceedingly hard to run a small business. That we have to fight off the greedy sharks of Big Business is just rude.