Congratulations to Chris Burke for claiming the $1000 prize in our “Save the Net” Viral Ad Contest. We intend to use the submission to spread the word in policy circles to ensure that government crafts policy that best advances the open Internet to allow for maximum creativity and innovation.

Chris’ winning entry is available at:
http://files.bungie.org/thisspartanlife/Blog05_S3.mov


Here are a few of the better runners-up:
http://www.anders.com/video/save-the-net.mov

http://67.15.182.229/nn.html

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7050009655852167999&q=save+the+internet

We are now launching Round II of the “Save the Net” Contest. And we are upping the prize. The Winner will receive $5k for Round II. Resubmissions or revised submissions are acceptable. Our goal is to get as many cool ideas out there as possible, to harness it and become a marketing force to advance the open Internet. Please make submissions to www.pulver.com/savethenet by August 31, 2006. We will announce the Winners at Fall VON in Boston, Sept. 11-14. www.von.com

A Brief Epilogue for Round I:
A little Monday morning quarterbacking on “Save the Net” Round I and the battle to protect and advance the open Internet:

While I was pleased with the quality of the top submissions, I still have grave fear that we are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the legislators and policymakers. They do not see what the Internet could be if we are afforded the best policy framework to innovate on the open Internet.

So, for now, the Jury is still out on the future of the open Internet and our role in protecting it. The Internet community has not yet been found Guilty – we are not yet complicit in the destruction of the Internet and communications.

But in a parallel Civil trial, the Internet community has been found Negligent. In our act of nonfeasance (turning a blind eye to activities in DC and in the corridors of power), the Internet community has not risen to its own defense, and the penalty is death, or at least a life sentence of mediocrity.

But in a Kafka-esque allegory, the trial is never really over. And we will have to continue to fight to protect the open Internet for many years to come. The price of Internet freedom is eternal vigilance.

We have to dig deeper into our creative core and figure out how to combat the $100 million Madison Avenue campaigns of the largest established corporate players. We don’t have $100 million to wage a war to Save the Net, but we do have the collective and individual genius of all of us innovating on the open Internet. Send us your best ideas (video, flash ads, songs, poems, cartoons) that you think might illustrate to policymakers and the public what the Internet could become if allowed to evolve with user-created input. Help us to win over the hearts and minds of those writing the rules that will shape our future.

Again, send us the link to your submissions by clicking here

(We had a few unfleshed out ideas that were very clever but incomplete. I encourage those of you who submitted only seeds of submissions to try to finalize those products.)