Net neutrality is the principle that the company that your Internet Service Provider does not get to control what you do on the Internet, and that an Internet user should be able to access all content and applications equally, without discrimination by the ISP.* This applies to everyone, including emergency first responders, teachers and students, city administrators, doctors and patients, and small businesses and their customers.
When the federal government eliminated net neutrality protections, California passed its own net neutrality legislation.
Media Alliance joined an amici (friend of the court brief) filed in the case of Open Technology Foundation vs David Pack (and the Trump Administration). Trump appointee Pack disbanded the entire board of OTF which creates and maintains encrypted software tools like Signal and Lets Encrypt, an open source website security protocol.
In an early win, the board was recently temporarily reinstated, overturning an earlier decision on appeal, but the lawsuit is still winding its way through the courts for a final determination.
Media Alliance filed these joint comments with Global Exchange on behalf of the Protest Facebook section in the FCC’s proceeding on Section 230 of the Telecom Act.
Section 230 exempts online platforms from liability for their content. It is one of the pillars of the Internet that has allowed alternative content to thrive on the Internet. And in an era of disinformation, we are seeing the dark side of freedom from liability.
Media Alliance categorically rejects that Section 230 should be abolished or ended. Just as categorically, we believe that tempered regulation of online platforms to address the viral spread of disinformation and online hatred is called for.
218 groups, including industry, local governments, and human rights nonprofits, have written to Congress to insist that access to affordable broadband must be a part of upcoming stimulus packages.
The letter states:
Broadband enables people to work remotely, access medical care, and apply for governmental benefits. As all levels of education transition to online for the forseeable future, reliable Internet access is necessary for students to be successful. Like food, water and electricity, everyone needs broadband during this unprecedented crisis.
A massive coalition of justice and equity groups has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to expand the Lifeline program to meet the challenges of the COVOD-19 epidemic.
The group made three demands.
To immediately prohibit the disconnection of Lifeline (subsidized) connections
To require Lifeline providers to unlimited voice and texting services within one week.
To create an emergency Lifeline Broadband program within 21 days.
25 civil society groups, led by the Open Technology Institute at New America and including Media Alliance, sent a letter objecting to the EARNIT Act, which seeks to weaken encryption standards.
The letter states: “By setting the stage for adoption of best practices that, whether directly or indirectly, require companies to avoid offering strong device encryption or end-to-end encrypted messaging services, the bill could create encryption backdoors. Backdoors to encryption make everyone in society more vulnerable to privacy, cybersecurity, and other risks.”
A conversation about technology and movement work. Last year nearly 1,000 activists participated in almost 20 sessions focused on discussing how movement activists and technologist across the country understood and prioritized the politics of technology through our Technology and Revolution Conversations.
In an attempt to develop a conversation that holds space for the many different perspectives and representations in tech and activist spaces we are traveling across the country as part of the Defend Our Movement Tour bringing back similar conversations and hoping that you will come join us. We all use technology. Many of our organizations even depend on it to do powerful and impactful work in our communities.
Our conversation on 1/26/19 will focus on uncovering the ways in which technology offers solutions to our work but also holds vast amounts of vulnerabilities considering the people and the communities we serve. We will be looking to expand and inform a unified strategy around how we use technology, how we protect both the technology we utilize and us as users, and how we identify our needs of technology for the future and security of our movement work.
Hosted by MayFirst/PeopleLink and the Center for Media Justice.
Saturday, 1/26/19
10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Greenlining Institute
360 14th st. 2nd floor
Oakland, CA 94612
You can register HERE. If you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me or Kyla, our Digital Justice Fellow and event facilitator at kyla@mediajustice.org.
More than 100 civil and human rights organizations, including Media Alliance, wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to demand a vote on the Save The Internet Act, a bill which would restore Open Internet protections and passed the House of Representatives earlier this year.
The letter calls on Senator McConnell to “enact the will of the hundreds of millions of people who support Open Internet protections and broadband competition, and the millions who have taken action demanding them, by allowing Senators to act on the Save The Internet Act”.
