Category Archives: Internet Freedom

Digital inclusion and who controls the Internet

Internet Freedom

New Poll Shows Republican Swing District Voters Want Support For Net Neutrality CRA

 

Net Freedom’s poll  says that 58% of undecided voters in Republican-held swing districts say they are more likely to vote for an incumbent who takes immediate action to force a vote to overturn the FCC — while only 8% are less likely to support such an incumbent. Conversely, not supporting the CRA is a potential liability: If a Republican incumbent refuses to take immediate action to force a vote to overturn the FCC, 45% of undecided voters are less likely to vote for them.” Continue reading New Poll Shows Republican Swing District Voters Want Support For Net Neutrality CRA →

Accountability and Representation, Internet Freedom, Press Room

Profiles in Corruption: How Telecoms Control the State Legislature

 

by Chris Witteman and Tracy Rosenberg. Originally published in 48 Hills. 

The last couple of weeks have not been good ones for those who see communications as a social justice issue.

The 2015 Open Internet Order, which ensured Internet neutrality and fairness, was finally stripped out of the law books per order of the Trump FCC, now run by a former lawyer for Verizon. San Francisco’s plan for a publicly-owned fiber broadband network was put on hold, and all indications are that Mayor Breed will likely bow to AT&T and Comcast by keeping it from resurfacing. And California’s own net neutrality bill, designed to reverse what Trump’s FCC had done, got ambushed by an upstart young Assemblymember. Continue reading Profiles in Corruption: How Telecoms Control the State Legislature →

Internet Freedom

55 Progressive Groups Urge Democrats To Support Net Neutrality CRA

 

55 groups (including Media Alliance) sent an open letter to the Democratic members of Congress urging them all to get on board with the Congressional Resolution of Disapproval (CRA) against the December 2017 repeal of net neutrality and avoid trying to create regulatory legislation in an uncertain Congress.

The letter states: “Internet freedom activists, grassroots organizers, social justice advocates, labor unions, and progressive organizations like ours oppose Pai’s assault on our ability to communicate and connect. The internet has been a transformative tool for free speech and for organizing in furtherance of civil rights and social and economic justice. A free and open internet enables political dissidents and marginalized communities to make their voices heard on their own terms — without being stifled or warped by corporate gatekeepers such as broadband internet service providers (ISPs)”.

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Internet Freedom

First Amendment Rights Plastered In GlassDoor Ruling

 

A disheartening ruling under seal was issued  by the Ninth Circuit of the Court of Appeals when they stifled First Amendment protections for people posting online anonymously.

The hush hush sealed case itself focuses on a government request to the employer review site GlassDoor for the names of their posters about their employer in a goverment contracting fraud case against that company.

GlassDoor, rightly, did not want to hand over user information to the government and saw the broader First Amendment implications of doing so.

The case revolved around the appropriate legal standard for waiving First Amendment protections. Sadly the court chose the weaker standard (known as Branzburg vs Hayes) and rejected without even reading them amicis filed by public interest groups including Media Alliance, Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), Electronic Frontier Foundation, Committee for Justice and Public Participation Project.

Here’s our rejection letter.  Glassdoor amicus motion denied

Here’s a few blogs from our fellow amicis about why this horrible decision is so horibble.

Center For Democracy and Technology

Electronic Frontier Foundation

 

Internet Freedom, Press Room

Now That The FCC Has Scrapped Net Neutrality, Get Ready For The Legal Battles

By Sean Captain – Fast Company

Despite protests online and in the streets, as well as appeals from Congress (including one Republican ), the FCC voted three-to-two this morning for Republican chairman Ajit Pai’s Restoring Internet Freedom order to scrap the net neutrality rules created under his Democratic predecessor, Tom Wheeler. But that won’t settle the issue. This being America, the next round will be duked out in a courtroom.

Recent experience shows how that may shake out. In 2015, the United States Telecom Association, an industry group including ISPs like AT&T and Verizon, sued the Democratic-majority FCC (and lost, in a 2016 ruling) to overturn its net neutrality regulations. Now activist groups and some companies are getting ready to sue Trump’s FCC over the abolition of those rules. “It will be the same this time except with the roles reversed to some extent,” says Matt Wood, policy director at Free Press, an organization that supports net neutrality regulations.

“We’ve essentially promised to sue, so there’s really no mystery whether we’re involved,” says Wood, and he’ll have company. “We’re pretty likely to be a plaintiff,” says Tracy Rosenberg, executive director of the press activist organization Media Alliance. The National Hispanic Media Coalition has also announced plans to sue. Continue reading Now That The FCC Has Scrapped Net Neutrality, Get Ready For The Legal Battles →