Internet Freedom

Why Internet Start-Ups Support Net Neutrality

June 5, 2014 Ryan Singel, www.contextly.com Organize! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

Back before the iPhone app store and then Google’s Android app store, building software to run on mobile phones was a loser’s game. You had to get the permission from Verizon or AT&T, and then you might have to sign an exclusivity deal and share profits and be at their whim. But, the Web has never required online services to get permission to launch or reach everyone. There are no trolls under bridges in the web kingdom. All you need to launch something that could reach millions or billions of people is, to paraphrase a poker saying, a silicon chip and a chair. That’s thanks to an open internet governed by principles known as Net Neutrality. It’s a simple enough concept: the companies that Americans pay to in order to get online — Comcast, TimeWarner Cable, Verizon, AT&T — should deliver the content that a user requests and not block sites or degrade service or play favorites. That open platform allowed me to start Contextly, back when I was a writer at Wired, using just my savings to pursue a vision for how online publishing could be made better for readers, writers and publishers. We show millions of content recommendations daily and there’s no way we could have afforded to pay AT&T and Verizon and Comcast for the fast lane to get our images loading quickly.

Snowden Sounds Call To Reset The Net

June 5, 2014 Dara Karr, www.cnet.com Resist! Edward Snowden, Internet Freedom, Privacy, Reset the net

It's been one year since news broke that Edward Snowden had leaked troves of US government documents detailing the National Security Agency's secret spying programs. And, to mark this anniversary Internet advocates have launched a pro-privacy campaign and day of action called Reset the Net. Not only have some top tech titans signed on, like Google, Mozilla, and Reddit, but Snowden himself has also thrown his weight behind the movement. In a statement issued via his attorney on Wednesday, Snowden said that in the face of government foot dragging, Reset the Net is a way citizens can "take back" their privacy. "Today, we can begin the work of effectively shutting down the collection of our online communications, even if the US Congress fails to do the same," Snowden wrote. "This is the beginning of a moment where we the people begin to protect our universal human rights with the laws of nature rather than the laws of nations." Reset the Net aims to circumvent policy makers and put the power directly in the hands of Internet users. The advocacy group behind the movement, Fight for the Future, has been rallying tech companies to join the cause and create encryption tools for users.

Reddit, Imgur & Boing Boing Launch Anti-Surveillance Campaign

June 3, 2014 Alex Hern, www.theguardian.com Resist! Internet Freedom, Reset the net, Surveillance

Some of the world's largest websites are planning a coordinated day of action on Thursday to oppose mass surveillance online. The sites, which include Reddit, Imgur and BoingBoing, will be taking part in the campaign, called "Reset the Net", in a number of ways. Some will showing a splash screen to all users, reminiscent of the one used in the successful protests against SOPA, the US copyright bill which many feared would damage the backbone of the internet. But rather than telling users to write to their electoral representatives, this protest will push more direct action, encouraging visitors to install privacy and encryption tools. Other sites have committed to improving their own privacy as part of the campaign, by enabling standards such as HTTPS, which prevents attackers from eavesdropping on visitors. Such security standards are common in the world of ecommerce, but rarer for sites which don't think of themselves as holding sensitive information.

Saving The Internet: What Is Coming Next?

June 2, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance,org Organize! FCC, Internet, Internet Freedom, Tom Wheeler

Internet Non-Discrimination Campaign Continues: Which Side Are You On, Tom? The Chair of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, continues to support a tiered Internet based on ability to pay, but because of the pressure from the people, the fundamental issue of reclassifying the Internet as a common carrier was added to the agenda Nearly 50,000 comments have already been sent on the "Open Internet" rule, almost all supporting our position. As we suggested, people are submitting comments to the public and raising their voices louder than Comcast’s lobbyists to save the people’s internet. To see more actions you can take visit Save The Internet. Working within the public comment system is not enough. We're planning more and focusing our attention on Tom Wheeler so the chair of the FCC knows that he has to pick a side -- is he with the people or with the telecom companies. Phase I: Which Side Are You On, Tom? Join us today, if you are in Washington, DC. On Monday, June 2nd from 4:30 to 6:00 PM, we will be starting our “Which Side Are You On, Tom? Campaign” at the FCC.

The Dangerous Uncertainty Over Net Neutrality

May 30, 2014 Eva Arevuo, www.engine.is Educate! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

Last month, the FCC released a proposal for new rules concerning the open Internet, and now the public has four months to provide comment. Those proposed rules pay a lip service to an open Internet — something we strongly support — but their substance tells a different story. One of the most dangerous aspects of the proposal is the resulting uncertainty that startups and investors would face. Unfortunately, until and unless we have real net neutrality rules in place, that uncertainty is unavoidable. As any business owner will understand, when you’re trying get a startup off the ground, any uncertainty can be dangerous — enough to spook investors and stunt growth. In this way, startups and other business owners are already feeling the impact of the net neutrality debate. Jamie Wilkinson is the co-founder and CEO of VHX, an online video distribution company that helps artists connect directly with their audience. Watch Jamie explain how the uncertainty over net neutrality is already affecting his business. So, a speedy solution is required here. But it must also be the right solution.

City Fiber Networks Create Community High-Speed Internet

May 30, 2014 Next New Deal, www.nextnewdeal.net Create! Cities, Fiber, Internet Freedom, Municipal Networks

Municipal fiber networks are spreading from coast to coast, but not all community fiber is equal, and some cities have taken very different approaches. What are they getting right, and where is there room for improvement to ensure universal high-speed Internet access? Roosevelt Institute Fellow Susan Crawford, joined by Harvard Law School students John Connolly and Travis West and Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law student Melissa Nally, takes on these questions In a new paper published by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Read the abstract below, and click here to download the paper, "Community Fiber in Washington, D.C., Seattle, and San Francisco." This report provides detailed accounts of planning carried out in connection with community fiber networks in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, CA, and Seattle, WA. It includes information about existing fiber assets that the cities identified, funding mechanisms that were considered, and roadblocks that were encountered. Our hope is that this report will be helpful to other cities that are considering launching fiber optic networks.

Is FCC Commissioner Saying One Thing And Doing Another?

May 27, 2014 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Organize! Internet, Internet Freedom

The path for an open Internet that functions without discrimination is evident: polls of the American people, the courts, federal communications law and reality all point to the Internet being treated as a common carrier, public utilities that operate without discrimination. The Chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, is saying he wants an open Internet without discrimination. Why is Wheeler not taking the obviously right path? Tom Wheeler is very smart, understands the law and has read the court decisions. For some reason he seems unable to comprehend the clear statements of the courts or the Federal Communications Act under which he operates.

Death Of A Hacktivist

May 26, 2014 Patricia Aufderheide, www.inthesetimes.com Educate! Aaron Swartz, Arts, Internet Freedom

Aaron Swartz was an Internet prodigy and a trouble-maker. The new documentary The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz is not only about Swartz, but about why we should care about the issues he cared about, and the trouble that triggered his suicide. Swartz was committed to an open and secure Internet, and was acutely aware of how that openness is compromised in different ways every day. To Brian Knappenberger, the film’s director, Swartz was something of a canary in a coal mine. “We all live massively networked lives,” Knappenberger explains. “All our lives have an Internet component to them. So everyone lives online and yet no one knows how it works.” Swartz, who was only 26 when he died in 2013, was a child of the Internet. He grew up with computers and began writing code at a young age. He was a furious inventor; as a teen he helped design the web feed service RSS and the copyright licensing system Creative Commons. At 20, Swartz got rich when Reddit (the crowd-source aggregator with which he’d merged his own start-up site) was sold to Condé Nast. The film tracks the development of an extraordinary talent, who used his talents in unorthodox ways to resist both money and power. Up until his strike-it-rich moment, Swartz could have been any of a number of Silicon Valley whiz kids. But then he just walked away from the game; as his one-time girlfriend explains in the film, he wanted his work to change the world, not just make money. He couldn’t find a way to do that in start-up culture, so he headed east, and cast about for social change.

FCC Chair’s Open Internet Rhetoric Does Not Match Reality

May 24, 2014 S. Derek Turner, www.freepress.net Educate! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

There’s an old phrase that we’ve all heard before: “Don’t believe everything you read in the paper.” This is good advice for most things. But it turns out that all the media reports about the FCC’s plans that would bring an end to Net Neutrality were 100 percent accurate. Despite FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s protests to the contrary, and his promise that he won’t allow Net Neutrality to slip away, the truth is that his proposal authorizes Internet service providers (ISPs) to discriminate against content and create slow lanes for all those who don’t pay special fees. The situation is dire. But there’s still reason to hope that we can radically change Chairman Wheeler’s mind — and this terrible proposal — by the time the FCC brings the plan to a vote this fall.

Congress Shows They Cannot Be Trusted On NSA, People Must Act

May 23, 2014 Evan Greer, www.fight4future.tumblr.com Organize! Internet Freedom, NSA, Surveillance

Today the US House of Representatives passed a dangerously watered down version of the USA Freedom Act. The bill, which was originally intended to scale back some domestic NSA spying, now contains huge loopholes that not only allow bulk spying to continue, but could could make it even worse, depending on how the NSA’s “creative” lawyers interpret the law. Now is a good time to reflect, regroup, and strategize. It’s imperative that whatever we do next in the fight against Orwellian government surveillance, we do it right and we fight to win. The reality is that the USA Freedom Act was a weak bill to begin with — even before backroom deals in Congress led to last-minute changes that made it even weaker. This should be a reminder and a lesson: if we let the government think we’ll settle for mediocre reform, they won’t even give us that. We need to stick to our one clear demand: an end to all forms of mass, suspicionless surveillance.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Sold Out The Internet–But Obama Can Fire Him…

May 23, 2014 Fight For The Future, www.fightforthefuture.org Educate! Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

When President Obama ran for election in 2008, he ran as a champion of net neutrality. He publicly announced his support for net neutrality and his commitment to keep the Internet open - especially by appointing a FCC chairman that would stand by those same ideals. But since President Obama appointed Tom Wheeler as FCC Chairman, the FCC has completely changed course on net neutrality. Just last month, Tom Wheeler proposed a rule to allow net discrimination and slow lanes to be created on the Internet. It’s clear to us now - Tom Wheeler is leading the charge to kill net neutrality. Tom Wheeler leads the FCC with a flawed vision and failed leadership. In the last two weeks, Wheeler has been reported as running the FCC into chaos over his decision to move forward with slow lanes. It’s time to fire Tom Wheeler.

EFF Dismayed By House’s Gutted USA FREEDOM Act

May 23, 2014 Mark Jaycox and Nadia Kayyali and Lee Tien, www.eff.org Organize! Congress, Internet Freedom, NSA, Surveillance

EFF and Other Civil Liberties Organizations Call on Congress to Support Uncompromising Reform Since the introduction of the USA FREEDOM Act, a bill that has over 140 cosponsors, Congress has been clear about its intent: ending the mass collection of Americans' calling records. Many members of Congress, the President's own review group on NSA activities, and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board all agree that the use of Section 215 to collect Americans' calling records must stop. Earlier today, House Leadership reached an agreement to amend the bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act in ways that severely weaken the bill, potentially allowing bulk surveillance of records to continue. The Electronic Frontier Foundation cannot support a bill that doesn't achieve the goal of ending mass spying. We urge Congress to support uncompromising NSA reform and we look forward to working on the Senate's bipartisan version of the USA FREEDOM Act. Passing the bill out of the Judiciary Committee for a vote on the House floor is an important sign that Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, and other leaders of the House are engaging in a conversation over NSA reform. We are glad that the House added a clause to the bill clarifying the content of communications cannot be obtained with Section 215. Unfortunately, the bill's changed definitions, the lack of substantial reform to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act, and the inability to introduce a special advocate in the FISA Court severely weakens the bill.

Merger Protests Greet Comcast’s Annual Shareholder Meeting

May 22, 2014 Hadas Kuznits, www.philadelphia.cbslocal.com Resist! Corporatism, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality, Protest, Shareholder activism

Demonstrators gathered this morning outside Comcast Corporation’s annual shareholders’ meeting to show opposition to the company’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable. Outside the Kimmel Center, Delara Derakhshani, policy counsel for Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, says a merger between the two media giants would result in worse customer service, higher prices, and fewer choices. “I would say that they’re sort of notorious for lousy customer service, and they’re just going to have less of an incentive, I think, to address customer needs,” she told KYW Newsradio. Meanwhile, Comcast spokesperson John Demming was on hand to read a written statement from Comcast: “The combination of Comcast and Time Warner Cable will bring significant benefits to consumers, including faster Internet speeds, net neutrality protection, a more reliable and more secure network, low-cost Internet access, and more diverse and independent programming to millions of Americans across the nation,” he read. But Steven Renderos, with the Center for Media Justice, doesn’t think the merger will help consumers at all. “All it really does is it puts Comcast in a position to have more power,” he said.

Net Neutrality: So … Now What?

May 18, 2014 Candace Clement, www.freepress.net Resist! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality, Protest

On Thursday, the FCC released its proposal on how it intends to protect Net Neutrality in the wake of a January court case that tossed out the agency’s rules. And, just as we feared, the rules pay lip service to the idea of the open Internet while proposing solutions that would create a two-tiered Internet with fast lanes for those who can afford it — and dirt roads for the rest of us. But this doesn’t mark the end of the fight. In fact, Thursday was just the kickoff. So if you’re like most people I know and you care about this issue but don’t spend every waking moment following the intricate details, fear not. That’s what we’re here for. Is all hope for Net Neutrality lost? No. In fact, the momentum that’s built for real Net Neutrality over the last five months is unprecedented. Over the coming months, the public will have the opportunity to weigh in on FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal. But we’ll also need to get the word out elsewhere — in town-hall meetings, with our elected officials, with the president, etc. The only reason Net Neutrality still has a fighting chance is because people are making a ton of noise about it. If we keep that up, we can win.

FCC Moves To Kill Net Neutrality, Says Internet Advocacy Groups

May 17, 2014 The Real News, www.therealnews.com Resist! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality, Occupy, Protest

In the 21st century, the internet is our free speech, but in this country, we're losing our right to free speech. The internet was created with our public dollars as part of the public commons. It should never have been reclassified. We need to put it back [incompr.] reclassify it. This is our First Amendment right. NOOR: What triggered public and congressional outcry ahead of the meeting is a provision in the proposed rule that will allow providers to charge more for faster content distribution, a so-called internet fast lane. FCC Chairman Wheeler, a former telecom lobbyist, says his proposal will balance the interest of the public and those of internet service providers. TOM WHEELER, CHAIRMAN, FCC: We start with a simple, obvious premise: protecting the open internet is important for both consumers and economic growth. We are dedicated to protecting and preserving an open internet. NOOR: Digital rights advocates argue that by going ahead with the plan as written, the FCC will actually create a two-tiered system which favors telecom giants and media conglomerates.

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