Internet Freedom

Father Of Net Neutrality Supports Full Title II

November 10, 2014 Nilay Patel, www.theverge.com Educate! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

Do I think the FCC will do what he says? The ball's in their court in a way it hasn't been before. I certainly think it stands a chance. He's the boss; he's the head of the Democratic Party and the President of the United States. His ideas hold a lot of weight. Obviously, [the FCC] is not going to just ignore this; they have more political cover to do it. I don't think it's the Chairman's preference, but knowing that he'll have the White House... They may find themselves very isolated. Sometimes, you have to pick a side or get run over. What's the point of being in the middle if you're the FCC at this point, unless you really think it's better in some way? If they stay in the middle, they're kind of naked right now — there's no one there with them. It's not like Congress is gonna help out. Congress is going to be against any version of the net neutrality rule, the tech companies are against any compromise. Sometimes, the middle can end up being a very dangerous place.

Critical Time For Action To Protect Net Neutrality

November 9, 2014 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Resist! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

This is a crisis of democracy. We must step up the pressure on Wheeler immediately to let him know that if he ignores the will of the people, then we will disrupt business as usual. We will expose his corruption. We will call for him to be fired. And the Democrats will lose the Internet base of voters. Internet equality is an issue that the public cares about passionately. We witnessed that last week when on very short notice, people organized actions in more than 30 cities across the country. Let's build on that momentum by starting this week off with more actions. We are working with a coalition of organizations that fight to protect Internet freedom. We need you to join us in the streets. Here's the plan:

Net Neutrality Advocates To Protest FCC ‘Hybrid’

November 5, 2014 Dominic Rushe, www.theguardian.com Resist! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

The FCC has been inundated with comments as it has weighed its options. A record 3.7m were sent to the regulator, at one point crashing the FCC’s systems.The Sunlight Foundation analysed the first 800,000 and found that fewer than 1% were opposed to net neutrality enforcement. The “hybrid” proposal now under consideration has not been finalised but according to media leaks and discussions with interested parties they would expand the FCC’s powers to regulate broadband while also allowing a carve out for cable providers to charge more money for fast lanes. Net neutrality’s defenders want the internet to be regulated under Title II of the Communications Act – a move that would classify the service as a “common carrier” and give the FCC the power to stop cable companies introducing “unreasonable discrimination” and ensure they work “in the public interest”.

Breaking: 75,000 People Tell Obama To Fire FCC Chair Tom Wheeler

October 31, 2014 Tiffiniy Cheng, www.tumblrr.fightforthefuture.org Resist! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

Today, digital rights group Fight for the Future — best known for their pivotal role in major Internet protests like the SOPA Blackout and the Internet Slowdown — electronically delivered more than 75,000 signatures to President Barack Obama calling for the White House to publicly support full Title II reclassification and demote FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for failing to do his job protecting the public’s access to a free and open Internet. The delivery came just hours after the Wall Street Journal reported that Wheeler is close to finalizing a net neutrality proposal that would explicitly allow for Internet fast lanes and slow lanes, despite the fact that the FCC has received more than 3.7 million public comments opposing the fast lanes, overwhelmingly in support of banning so-called “paid prioritization” through the use of Title II reclassification.

Stop The FCC From Compromising On Net Neutrality!

October 30, 2014 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

We have come so far since we learned at the end of April that the FCC was preparing to propose rules that would allow the Giant Telecoms like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon to create fast lanes for those who can pay more. This would kill net neutrality. We understood that if we lose net neutrality - over time our ability to share information through social media, reach the public with our websites and organize online would diminish. The Internet would become like corporate media. It would change from the open and free platform for the exchange of information and ideas that it currently is to a controlled and censored platform that decides what you can see and share. The people have spoken loudly and clearly - through millions of phone calls, emails and public comments, an occupation outside the FCC and actions from coast to coast we, the people, forced reclassification of the Internet under Title II so that it would be treated as a public good onto the table.

Send Your Video Directly To FCC On Giant Screen

September 14, 2014 Free Press, www.fightforthefuture.org Resist! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

Sept. 15 is the deadline for final comments on Wheeler’s proposal — and while big broadband providers like Comcast are lobbying overtime to push this plan forward, we can’t let them have the last word. To that end we’ve organized big lunchtime rallies in New York City and Philadelphiato save Net Neutrality and fight the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger. On September 16th, internet freedom supporters will gather at 11:45am at the FCC building in Washington, DC, and our friends from Namecheap will be there with a giant video-billboard playing net neutrality videos on a loop! Want your video projected on the billboard? Email it to ted@namecheap.com Your voice is essential right now.

Rally With #TeamInternet On September 15

September 12, 2014 Amy Kroin, www.freepress.net Resist! Internet, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

Sept. 15 is the deadline for final comments on Wheeler’s proposal — and while big broadband providers like Comcast are lobbying overtime to push this plan forward, we can’t let them have the last word. To that end we’ve organized big lunchtime rallies in New York City and Philadelphia to save Net Neutrality and fight the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger. Your voice is essential right now. If you don’t live in New York or Philly, you can organize a rally in your own community. It’s a pretty easy process and we’ve put together a handy toolkit with all the info you need to launch your own event. All of us on #TeamInternet have made a ton of noise since Wheeler proposed his rules — sending record-breaking numbers of comments to the FCC, rallying in Washington, D.C., and California, meeting with our elected officials to push them to stand up for real Net Neutrality.

Big Telecom VS The World

September 8, 2014 Open Media, www.bigtelecomvstheworld.org Petitions and Online Actions Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

Big Telecom and their lobbyists want to control your Internet and make online services more expensive. So far, ‘Net Neutrality’ rules in several countries have banned their interference.5 But under pressure from lobbyists, leaders from several countries are considering implementing these Internet slow lane plans.6 If we don’t speak out for the open Internet now, it will be hard to turn back. This is why we need you to voice support for net neutrality and stop the Internet slow lane before it’s too late. After you sign on, we’ll deliver your voice directly to decision-makers.

Online Protest In Support Of Net Neutrality Planned For Sept. 10

September 5, 2014 Gerry Smith, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Activism, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

Web activists are planning an online protest for next week to press federal regulators for stronger rules to protect net neutrality, or the idea that all web content should be treated equally. The activists are asking websites and social networks to join the protest on Sept. 10 by embedding special code on their sites depicting a “loading” icon, which they say symbolizes how Internet traffic could be slowed down if regulators don't create stronger net neutrality rules. The code would also give visitors a way to submit comments supporting net neutrality to the Federal Communications Commission and to elected officials. The groups organizing the protest include Demand Progress, a political action group focused on shaping debate on Internet policy, Free Press, a consumer group, and Fight for the Future, a nonprofit that assisted with the organization of online protests in 2012 that helped derail the controversial anti-piracy bills called SOPA and PIPA. The organizers said “many” tech companies and social networks are planning to participate in the protest, which they’re calling an “Internet slow down," but declined to name them until later this week. “Cable companies want to slow down (and break!) your favorite sites, for profit,” the groups said on their website, battleforthenet.com. “To fight back, let's cover the web with 'loading' icons, to remind everyone what an Internet without net neutrality would look like, and drive record numbers of emails and calls to lawmakers.”

What Can We Learn From 800,000 Comments On Net Neutrality?

September 5, 2014 Bob Lannon and Andrew Pendleton, www.sunlightfoundation.com Educate! Data, FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

On Aug. 5, the Federal Communications Commission announced the bulk release of the comments from its largest-ever public comment collection. We've spent the last three weeks cleaning and preparing the data and leveraging our experience in machine learning and natural language processing to try and make sense of the hundreds-of-thousands of comments in the docket. Here is a high-level overview, as well as our cleaned version of the full corpus which is available for download in the hopes of making further research easier. Our first exploration uses natural language processing techniques to identify topical keywords within comments and use those keywords to group comments together. We analyzed a corpus of 800,959 comments. Some key findings: We estimate that less than 1 percent of comments were clearly opposed to net neutrality1. At least 60 percent of comments submitted were form letters written by organized campaigns (484,692 comments); while these make up the majority of comments, this is actually a lower percentage than is common for high-volume regulatory dockets. At least 200 comments came from law firms, on behalf of themselves or their clients. Below is an interactive visualization that lets you explore these groupings and view individual comments within the groups.

With 2 Weeks To Go, Net Neutrality Battle Heats Up

September 4, 2014 Jason Abbruzzese, www.mashable.com Organize! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality, Regulation

With less than two weeks until the end of the comment period on proposed Internet regulations, both sides of the debate are pushing publicity campaigns aimed at swaying the net neutrality debate. The battle has coalesced around a particular issue: the reclassification of broadband Internet, a move that would either maintain an open and equal web or destroy it, depending on which side of the debate is lobbying. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has publicly stated that it could vote to reclassify broadband as a utility, bringing Internet providers under more stringent regulations. See also: FCC and Net Neutrality: What You Need to Know A new "don't break the Internet" campaign launched on Tuesday with a website that seeks to push back against calls for the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify. Drawing on the words of net neutrality advocates like Tim Wu, Lawrence Lessig and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the site makes plain its stance at the top.

Sept.10: Join Huge Online Action For Net Neutrality

September 4, 2014 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Resist! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

Imagine all your favorite websites taking forever to load, while you get annoying notifications from your ISP suggesting you switch to one of their approved “Fast Lane” sites. Think about what we would lose: all the weird, alternative, interesting, and enlightening stuff that makes the Internet so much cooler than mainstream Cable TV. What if the only news sites you could reliably connect to were the ones that had deals with companies like Comcast and Verizon? How would your worldview be different? Do you think you’d have found Fight for the Future, Popular Resistance or other causes you care about? On September 10th, just a few days before the FCC’s comment deadline, public interest organizations are issuing an open, international call for websites and internet users to unite for an “Internet Slowdown” to show the world what the web would be like if Team Cable gets their way and trashes net neutrality.

Meet The Two Women Who Hold The Future Of The Internet In Their Hands

September 3, 2014 Ryan Grim and Sabrina Siddiqui, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

One of the most consequential decisions Washington is set to make in 2014 won't come out of the White House, Congress, or any of the nation's boardrooms, but rather from a nondescript federal building along the city's southwest waterfront. It's here, in the offices of the Federal Communications Commission, that the fate of the Internet will be decided. The FCC is currently revising rules on "net neutrality" -- or the idea that all web traffic should be treated equally -- after a federal court in January struck down a regulation that forced Internet service providers to abide by the principle. But the court allowed the FCC to go back to the drawing board and craft new net neutrality rules under a different statute that would pass muster. In April, agency Chairman Tom Wheeler introduced a draft proposal that would still effectively end net neutrality, though he puzzlingly claimed in public that it would not. Wheeler is looked to as the linchpin to the Internet's fate. But the FCC board is made up of five people: Wheeler, two other Democrats and two Republicans. This group will vote on the next version of the rules, and its members could enshrine net neutrality into law if they so choose. The two Republican appointees to the FCC are unlikely to back Wheeler. Republicans of all stripes oppose net neutrality on principle -- a business, the thinking goes, should more or less be able to charge for anything the market will pay for. Republican opposition means Wheeler will need the support of his Democratic colleagues on the panel if he does want to protect net neutrality.

FCC Names Network Neutrality Expert As CTO

August 29, 2014 Brian Santo, www.cedmagazine.com Educate! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality, Technology

Scott Jordan, a professor at University of California at Irvine with a strong history working on network neutrality issues, was named the new chief technology officer (CTO) of the FCC. For those who try to read tea leaves, Jordan’s appointment might be a signal that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is serious about exploring the possibility of reclassifying broadband as a telecommunications service, even as the Republican contingent among his fellow Commissioners have been vehemently dismissing the idea. Jordan succeeds Henning Schulzrinne, who will return to Columbia University and continue to serve the Commission in a part-time capacity as a technology advisor. Jordan is a professor of computer science at UC Irvine. His research interests include communications policy, pricing and differentiated services in the Internet, and resource allocation in wireless multimedia networks, the FCC said. Jordan has also developed specific expertise in network neutrality issues, developing what one bio calls “moderate” network neutrality policies. That includes proposals for policy founded on network architectures that encourage development of network management for multimedia applications while prohibiting anti-competitive behavior or, as one of his papers puts it, the extraction of oligopoly rents. In other words, he’s been attempting to help formulate policy that would have strong consumer protections but which would not interfere with network operations or management.

65 Groups Urge FCC To Reject Comcast-Time Warner Merger

August 26, 2014 Timothy Karr, www.freepress.net Organize! Comcast, FCC, Internet Freedom

Sixty-five organizations representing consumers, content producers, and social justice and democracy-reform advocates called on the Federal Communications Commission today to reject the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable. The FCC is currently reviewing the deal to determine whether it serves the public interest. In a letter to the FCC, the groups warned that the merger would give Comcast “unprecedented gatekeeper control” over the nation’s telecommunications and media landscape and lead to higher prices and fewer choices for broadband and cable customers. The merger would give Comcast too much control over the future of the Internet and communications infrastructure and undermine the diversity of ownership and content in media, according to the groups. The letter highlights Comcast’s history of failing to meet commitments made to gain approval for its previous merger with NBCUniversal. “Given this history, no amount of promises or conditions would be good enough to assuage concerns about this merger….The deal needs to be rejected outright.”

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources