Last Friday, just as Congress was preparing for August recess, Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) dropped an important new piece of legislation: The Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009. We at Free Press are urging Congress to support this bill, and you can urge them too.

This bill would make an open Internet the law, once and for all. That's a huge turning point for those of us in the media reform movement who have been pushing for Net Neutrality for years, and for anyone concerned with free expression and civic participation. This bill could become the First Amendment of the Internet age.

So why do we need Net Neutrality? My colleague Tim Karr is giving us seven reasons:

1. Economic Recovery and Prosperity

"The Internet is an essential infrastructure," declares Markey and Eshoo's bill. "The national economy would be severely harmed if the ability of Internet content, service, and application providers to reach consumers was frustrated by interference from broadband telecommunications network operators."

2. Free Speech

The Internet Freedom Preservation Act would stop would-be gatekeepers from re-routing the free-flowing Web. "To meet other national priorities, and to our right to free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States," the bill says, "the United States should adopt a clear policy preserving the open nature of Internet communications."

3. Civic Participation

[The new] wave of digital empowerment is the gathering force for a healthier democracy, and it all depends upon a more open, affordable and accessible Internet for everyone. Expanding Internet access alone doesn't erase concerns over what kind of information people will find when they get online. Net Neutrality guarantees that we all have an equal opportunity to play a part.

4. The Marketplace of Ideas

The Internet Freedom Preservation Act "will protect consumers and content providers because it will restore the guarantee that one does not have to ask permission to innovate," Rep. Markey said when he introduced the bill.

5. Social Justice

The Internet Freedom Preservation Act guarantees equal and unbridled access to the Internet's engine of opportunity, leveling the playing field so that we all have a chance to be heard.

6. The Rise of the Gatekeepers

As more of us rely upon a high-speed connection to do all things media -- watch and make video, follow the news, listen to music, Tweet, email and call our friends -- legacy media are too tempted to get in our way, steering us back via old channels where they make all decisions for us. But there's no going back to the analog oligarchy. The Internet Freedom Preservation Act keeps the gatekeepers at bay.

7. The Obama Opportunity

Forces are coming into alignment for Net Neutrality. We have a president who is an outspoken supporter, congressional leadership willing to fight for an open Internet, and a pro-Neutrality chairman newly ensconced at the Federal Communications Commission.

If you agree that this is a vital piece of legislation, please urge Congress to support this bill.