Read

Error message

Notice: Undefined index: base_url in include_once() (line 125 of /home3/occupyco/public_html/dev/sites/default/settings.php).

User menu

Search form

For Net Neutrality Defenders, It's the Beginning of "Most Important Battle Yet"

For Net Neutrality Defenders, It's the Beginning of "Most Important Battle Yet"
Tue, 6/12/2018 - by Jessica Corbett
This article originally appeared on Common Dreams

As the FCC's rollback of net neutrality protections officially took effect on Monday, a broad coalition of free press and digital rights campaigners vowed to maintain pressure on members of Congress to either restore the federal rules "or prepare to face our wrath" in the November midterm elections.

Supporters of net neutrality rules—which require internet service providers (ISPs) to treat all online content equally—are aiming to convince House Speaker Paul Ryan and additional Republicans to support a Congressional Review Act (CRA) that would overturn the FCC's party-line vote.

Last month, a few Senate Republicans joined with Democrats to pass the CRA, which was spearheaded by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

"Now we're fighting an uphill battle to get the House of Representatives to do the same," explains the BattleforNet coalition, which includes Fight for the Future, Free Press, and Demand Progress. "It's not going to be easy, but if the whole internet comes together to fight, we can win."

"In the House, we'll need 218 lawmakers to sign on to a 'discharge petition' in order to force a vote past leadership to the floor," the coalition's website outlines. "That means we'll need to convince all the Democrats and about 25 Republicans to support the CRA. The clock is ticking—if the CRA resolution doesn't get a vote this year, it dies when the new Congress comes into session."

Now that the repeal is in effect, ISPs "have the green light to begin degrading our access to the internet," said former FCC commissioner and Common Cause special adviser Michael Copps. "Monopoly phone and cable companies will undoubtedly seek to maximize profits by favoring their own content over their competitors and creating fast lanes and slow lanes ultimately at the expense of consumers."

With that in mind, Battle for the Net is promoting three ways constituents can urge their congressional represenatives to back the discharge petition:

  • flood them with calls and emails;

  • schedule in-person events, protests, meetings, and canvassing;

  • and encourage small business owners to sign a public petition pledging their support—because "in Washington, money talks," and lawmakers recognize the "vital" role those owners play in their districts.

Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, "a former Verizon lawyer, bucked the lawignored public opinion and twisted the facts to make his ill-advised case for handing control of the internet to the anti-competitive cabal of giant phone and cable companies," as Free Press's Timothy Karr noted in an op-ed on Monday.

"Poll after poll after poll after poll shows large majorities of Republican voters in opposition to the FCC's repeal," Karr pointed out. "Any Republican seeking re-election in the fall can't run from this polling data or from the people back home who demand real net neutrality."

"People are pissed off. And rightly so. The gutting of net neutrality is a symbol of our broken democracy. It's the worst of the worst that the D.C. swamp has to offer," Fight for the Future's Evan Greer said in a statement Monday.

"But it has sparked an unprecedented backlash from across the political spectrum, and internet users are coming out of the woodwork to fight tooth and nail in Congress, in the courts, and at the local and state level," she continued. "This summer we'll channel our anger productively and harness the power of the internet to mount an unprecedented district-by-district campaign to get Congress to do their job."

"The internet is coming for net neutrality. There is nowhere to hide," Greer concluded. "Any lawmaker, of any party, that fails to sign the discharge petition in support of the CRA will regret it come election time."

Originally published by Common Dreams

3 WAYS TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

ONE-TIME DONATION

Just use the simple form below to make a single direct donation.

DONATE NOW

MONTHLY DONATION

Be a sustaining sponsor. Give a reacurring monthly donation at any level.

GET SOME MERCH!

Now you can wear your support too! From T-Shirts to tote bags.

SHOP TODAY

Sign Up

Article Tabs

prison reform, incarceration rates, private prisons, for-profit prisons, white supremacy, enslavement, climate justice, racial justice, Green New Deal

The year 2020 has caused many white people to realize we live in a racist system. The Green New Deal is about systemic change for all, and deconstructing racism must be front and central in this agenda.

coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Jair Bolsonaro, COVID-19 deaths, downplaying coronavirus

By infecting three of the world’s most right-wing leaders, the coronavirus underscored not only the incompetence and irresponsibility of their governments – but the truth that their brand of populism doesn't keep people safe.

COVID-19, corporate bailouts, corporate welfare, corporate destruction

Corporations are not "too big to fail" and, when they commit crimes, they are not "too big to jail." As David Whyte writes in his new book, "Ecocide: Kill the Corporation Before It Kills Us," the moment is now to rein in out-of-control corporate power.

The world has lost an incredible thinker and doer. I have lost an amazing friend. A void exists where before it was filled with David's optimism, humour and joy.

Kevin Zeese speaks at a rally for Chelsea Manning. By Ellen Davidson.

Kevin fought to bring truth every day. We must not lose this struggle.

prison reform, incarceration rates, private prisons, for-profit prisons, white supremacy, enslavement, climate justice, racial justice, Green New Deal

The year 2020 has caused many white people to realize we live in a racist system. The Green New Deal is about systemic change for all, and deconstructing racism must be front and central in this agenda.

coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Jair Bolsonaro, COVID-19 deaths, downplaying coronavirus

By infecting three of the world’s most right-wing leaders, the coronavirus underscored not only the incompetence and irresponsibility of their governments – but the truth that their brand of populism doesn't keep people safe.

COVID-19, corporate bailouts, corporate welfare, corporate destruction

Corporations are not "too big to fail" and, when they commit crimes, they are not "too big to jail." As David Whyte writes in his new book, "Ecocide: Kill the Corporation Before It Kills Us," the moment is now to rein in out-of-control corporate power.

The world has lost an incredible thinker and doer. I have lost an amazing friend. A void exists where before it was filled with David's optimism, humour and joy.

Kevin Zeese speaks at a rally for Chelsea Manning. By Ellen Davidson.

Kevin fought to bring truth every day. We must not lose this struggle.