Tag Archives: net neutrality

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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SF Says Yes To Net Neutrality

 

By Christina Di Eduardo, Bay Area Reporter

Approximately 200-250 people jammed the sidewalk in front of the Verizon store at 768 Market Street December 7 to protest efforts by the Trump regime to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to end net neutrality.

“Why are we out here in front of Verizon, other than that they’re an ISP and they suck?” asked Tracy Rosenberg, executive director of Media Alliance and one of the protest’s organizers. “It’s because they’re Ajit Pai’s employer.” Continue reading SF Says Yes To Net Neutrality

The Political Dumpster Fire Of Net Neutrality Is Just Heating Up

By Sean Captain – Fast Company

American net neutrality policy, a decade-old dumpster fire, flared up again this week with the FCC’s party-line vote approving chairman Ajit Pai’s Restoring Internet Freedom order. It scraps the FCC’s own 2015 regulations prohibiting internet service providers from blocking or throttling (slowing down) access to certain web sites and services or charging them extra money for “fast lanes” with better access. The vote was no surprise to the many activists, businesses, and state governments who have already been planning legal counterattacks. With 2018 being an election year, they will argue the case not only to judges but also to voters—pressuring both courts and Congress to take action. Continue reading The Political Dumpster Fire Of Net Neutrality Is Just Heating Up

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

Day Of Action To Save Network Neutrality July 12

 

For years, we’ve told you why network neutrality is the key principle underlying an Open Internet and protecting the web’s capacity to connect. Finally it seemed as if the future of the Internet was no longer in question when the FCC moved to Title 2 classification.

But as with so many things, the Trump administration is leaving no stone unturned in trying to dismantle social progress and the open Internet is now on the chopping block.

Continue reading Day Of Action To Save Network Neutrality July 12