Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality National Day Of Action, And More

July 10, 2017 Eleanor Goldfield, www.popularresistance.org Resistance Report FCC, Net Neutrality, Rojava, Syria

By Eleanor Goldfield for Act Out! Net Neutrality ensures that big telecoms like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast etc. can't slow down or restrict your access to any site. If you want to visit my show page via occupy.com, they can't stop you. If you want to watch porn or cat videos – hopefully not any combination of the two – ISP's or internet service providers can't stop you, or demand that you pay more in order to access Mr. Whiskers knocking his food off a table like a boss. Democratic Confederalism may sound yawn-worthy but it is in fact what has successfully stopped ISIS from advancing into Northern Syria and done so while simultaneously building a flat-structure, democratic, feminist society. Known as the Rojava region, this predominantly Kurdish area of Northern Syria has been home to both oppression and resistance for decades, if not hundreds of years. It is here that the Kurdish resistance movement started manifesting progressive alternatives to the capitalist patriarchy already in the 80s.

Facebook And Google Join Online Net Neutrality Protest

July 9, 2017 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

By John Zangas for DC Media Group. Google and Facebook confirmed they will join with other Internet companies to protest of FCC plans to roll back Net Neutrality protections. The largest ever Internet protest will take place on July 12 and involve a variety of actions to tell the public that FCC plans to end Internet freedoms will hurt everyone. The list of hundreds of internet companies protesting the FCC action, which includes Twitter, Netflix, Reddit, and Vimeo, is expected to grow and will entail slowing services, blacking out normal website banners, or posting notices on web site banners telling the public what they can do to support Net Neutrality. A sample of a web banner internet companies plan to use on July 12. Image: Fight For The Future A sample of a web banner internet companies plan to use on July 12. Image: Fight For The Future This development is significant because of the extensive digital connectivity of Facebook and Google. Facebook reported last month that it had reached a milestone of 2 billion visits per month on its customer accounts. Google has over 3.5 billion hits on its servers every day.

National Day Of Action To Protect Our Internet!

June 28, 2017 Protect Our Internet, www.popularresistance.org Resist! FCC, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

By Protect Our Internet. Here's the gist; riddle me this: How is a Train like the Internet? They're both common carriers! You buy your ticket and decide where you want to go on the train. You buy your Internet service provider and decide where you want to go on the Internet. But that could end in August. Sign up here to take action to spread the word. Big Telecoms like Verizon, Comcast and AT&T don't want to just provide Internet service, they want to control the content too - slowing down, diverting or even shutting down our access to the open internet we know and love. Imagine being on a train and all of a sudden, you can't get off at your stop - or it takes you twice as long to get there, and costs twice as much. That's why we're asking all of you internet users out there to come together on July 12 to spread the word at your local train or metro stations about the importance of an open and accessible internet - just like an open and accessible public transportation system. These actions will coincide with an Internet-Wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality.

ISP’s Across The Country Call For Net Neutrality

June 28, 2017 Ernesto Falcon, www.eff.org Resist! Internet, ISP, Net Neutrality

By Ernesto Falcon for EFF - The 2015 Order famously outlined clear net neutrality rules. But those rules only passed muster because the Order also explicitly classified broadband service as a "common carrier" service, regulated by Title II of the Communications Act, rather than an "information service" regulated by Title I of the same Act. And that classification has several corollary effects, because Title II isn't just about net neutrality. It is also meant to curtail the anti-competitive conduct from incumbent monopolists like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon. In essence, as common carriers, they are not able to use their power to control the Internet experience, and they are not able to directly harm their competitors in the broadband market. That's why these small ISPs are worried. Chairman Pai wants to reverse the 2015 decision to reclassify broadband as a "common carrier" service, thereby eliminating the protections Title II offers. If he succeeds, not only are Section 201 and Section 202 -- the core provisions that support network neutrality -- on the chopping block, but also a whole host of other active provisions that protect competition in the broadband market. Small wonder the big cable and telephone lobbies are happy to pay lip service to net neutrality -- so long as the actual rules aren't based on Title II.

Newsletter – Positive Actions You Can Take This Summer

June 24, 2017 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Climate Change, Environment, Finance and the Economy, health, Health Care, Medicare for all, Net Neutrality, Worker Rights and Jobs

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. This week, we look at some of the current struggles in the United States and ways that you can get involved this summer. From protecting health care, net neutrality and the environment to building positive alternatives that transform our current dysfunctional systems, there is something for everyone to do. Read on to learn what's happening and how to take action. This is the time to rise up and protect our families, communities and planet.

Twitter Joins Pro-Net Neutrality ‘Day Of Action’

June 24, 2017 Ali Breland, www.thehill.com Resist! Net Neutrality, Twitter

By Ali Breland for The Hill - Twitter announced Thursday that it will join the net neutrality "Day of Action,” giving a high-profile boost to the campaign to preserve Obama-era net neutrality rules. The San Francisco-based social media giant is the latest in a string of prominent companies who are officially entering the fight the protect the net neutrality rules created in the 2015 Open Internet Order. The rules aimed to maintain a level playing field for companies on the internet and prevent certain types of content from being prioritized over others. Twitter will join Amazon and Netflix, which recently announced that it would participate, along with smaller internet companies like Vimeo, Etsy, Kickstarter, Reddit and others who are trying to stop Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai from implementing his “Restoring Internet Freedom” proposal to scrap the rules. Publishing platform Medium, which was founded by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, and Soundcloud also announced on Thursday that it would be participating. “This protest is gaining so much momentum because no one wants their cable company to charge them extra fees or have the power to control what they can see and do on the Internet,” said Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future, the advocacy group organizing the day of action.

Former FCC Commissioner: Net Neutrality Is A First Amendment Issue

June 22, 2017 Michael Winship, www.billmoyers.com Educate! FCC, First Amendment, Net Neutrality

By Michael Winship for Moyers & Company - In just a few short months, the Trump wrecking ball has pounded away at rules and regulations in virtually every government agency. The men and women the president has appointed to the Cabinet and to head those agencies are so far in sycophantic lockstep, engaged in dismantling years of protections in order to make real what White House strategist Steve Bannon infamously described as "the deconstruction of the administrative state." The Federal Communications Commission is not immune. Its new chair, Republican Ajit Pai, embraces the Trump doctrine of regulatory devastation. "It's basic economics," he declared in an April 26 speech at Washington's Newseum. "The more heavily you regulate something, the less of it you're likely to get." His goal is to stem the tide of media reform that in recent years has made significant progress for American citizens. Even as we rely more than ever on digital media for information, education and entertainment, Pai and his GOP colleagues at the FCC seek to turn back the clock and increase even more the corporate control of cyberspace.

Poll Shows Broad, Bipartisan Support For Net Neutrality Rules

June 22, 2017 Mariam Baksh, www.morningconsult.com Educate! Net Neutrality

By Mariam Baksh for Morning Consult - With the Federal Communications Commission moving toward repealing Obama-era net neutrality rules, a new poll shows strong, bipartisan backing to keep them in place. Sixty-percent of respondents in a Morning Consult/POLITICO poll said they support rules that say internet service providers like Comcast Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. “cannot block, throttle or prioritize certain content on the internet.” The difference between supporters by party was 2 percentage points, with 59 percent of Republicans and 61 percent of Democrats backing the rules. The same percentage of tea party supporters and Democrats expressed strong support for net neutrality, at 37 percent. Internet service providers such as Comcast say they are committed to the net neutrality principles. But they don’t like the legal footing on which the rules were established — specifically, regulating ISPs like utilities by classifying broadband internet as a “common carrier” under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. “Our members believe consumers deserve enforceable rules that prohibit the blocking or throttling of legal internet traffic without relying on antiquated regulations that can stifle needed investments in networks,” said Amy Schatz, vice president of media affairs for ISP trade group U.S. Telecom, in an email to Morning Consult.

Actions You Can Take To Protect Net Neutrality This Week

June 20, 2017 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! FCC Internet, Freedom of Speech, Internet Freedom, Net Neutrality

By Staff. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is threatening to undermine the free and open internet as we know it. In May, the FCC voted to begin a rulemaking that would undo the Open Internet Order, which ensures that Internet Service Providers (ISP) treat all online traffic equally. To raise awareness, involve more constituencies and continue to promote net neutrality, we plan to focus each week on one theme or aspect of net neutrality and amplify that message online. Strong net neutrality protections are in place to prevent broadband providers from blocking, throttling, or prioritizing internet content. Net neutrality rules protect the free flow of ideas that are creating new industries, educating our youth, promoting free speech, and supporting the communications that we rely on every day. President Donald Trump and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s want to hand control of the internet to a few big broadband companies that will serve as broadband gatekeepers. Without the Open Internet Order, ISPs could discriminate against certain websites, distort competition, stifle innovation, and undermine user choice and free expression.

Media Monopolies Are Undermining Democracy And Net Neutrality

June 17, 2017 Emma Niles, www.truthdig.com Educate! Media, Monopoly, Net Neutrality

By Emma Niles for Truth Dig - Robert Scheer: Hi, it’s Robert Scheer with another edition of Scheer Intelligence, where the intelligence comes from my guests. In this case, it’s Mark Lloyd, who has had a really interesting career both as a journalist working in electronic media, worked for NBC and CNN, won an Emmy for a documentary called Turning It Around: Urban Teens in Crisis. He knew something about kids in crisis, he grew up in Detroit, went to the University of Michigan, and his most recent book, “The Communications Crisis in America, and How to Fix It.” Mark is a professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. So this communication crisis in America, is this another one of these pro-Trump, or following Trump or against Trump stories, or—? Mark Lloyd: This was done before Trump. We anticipated that someone like Trump might be elected. But it is about the fact that most Americans are not able to get the information that they need to keep themselves safe, to make sure they know where to send their children to school, where to get the best medical care, or a wide variety of things about their financial well-being and other things important to them.

Mozilla Poll Again Shows Net Neutrality Has Broad, Bipartisan Support

June 10, 2017 Karl Bode, www.techdirt.com Resist! Internet, Net Neutrality

By Karl Bode for Tech Dirt - So we've noted for a long time that while net neutrality is framed as a "partisan" issue, it really isn't. Data has consistently shown overwhelming, bipartisan public support for the concept and the rules, in large part because of the way most people have been treated by marginally-competitive TV or broadband providers. But to help sow dissent among the public, large ISP lobbyists (and the lawmakers paid to love them) have been immensely successful in framing this as a hotly contested subject, usually by portraying the effort, incorrectly, as a "government takeover of the internet." A new survey from Mozilla and IPSOS once again highlights this cap between reality and common media and policy wisdom. The survey found, unsurprisingly, that over three quarters of Americans (76%) support net neutrality. When it comes to the supposed "partisan division," the survey also found that 81% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans are in favor of it: So again, this narrative that countless, angry Americans see net neutrality as "Obamacare for the internet" or "incredible government over-reach" tends to be the pervasive wisdom you'll see in the press and in most ISP policy rhetoric...

Report Falsely Blames The EFF For Fraudulent Net Neutrality Comments

June 9, 2017 Karl Bode, www.techdirt.com Educate! FCC, Internet, Net Neutrality

By Karl Bode for Tech Dirt - So we've discussed at length how somebody is gaming the FCC's comment system, using a bot to post hundreds of thousands of fake comments in support of the agency's plan to kill net neutrality. We've also made it pretty clear that the FCC doesn't appear interested in doing much about this, because these bogus (and in some instances dead) people "support" the FCC's plan to gut consumer protections governing the already uncompetitive broadband market. I've had some first-hand experience with the FCC's apathy, given I've been trying to get them to remove (or even address) a post supporting the death of net neutrality made in my name, falsely claiming I run an "unregistered PAC" and am upset that Title II "diminished broadband investment, stifled innovation, and left American consumers potentially on the hook for a new broadband tax" (none of which is true, it should go without saying). While the agency says it's looking into my complaint, you simply don't get the sense that tackling public proceeding comment fraud will be a top agency priority anytime soon.

Group Accuses FCC Of Trying To Stifle Pro-Net Neutrality Speech

June 6, 2017 Harper Neidig, www.thehill.com Resist! FCC, Net Neutrality

By Harper Neidig for The Hill - A public interest group is accusing the Federal Communications Commission of trying to stifle free speech in the debate over net neutrality regulations. The pro-net neutrality group Free Press sent a letter to FCC general counsel Brendan Carr on Monday expressing concern “about recent actions that call into serious question the Federal Communication Commission’s commitment to fostering free expression.” Free Press deputy director Jessica González and policy director Matt Wood wrote that at the FCC’s March open meeting, two members of the group’s advocacy wing were barred from entering the hearing room because they were wearing shirts that read “Protect Net Neutrality.” The two were apparently told to go into a restroom and turn the shirts inside out. A spokesman for the FCC, which is moving to overturn the Obama-era rules that reclassified internet service providers, declined to comment. “It is beyond ironic that the Federal Communications Commission — the government agency charged with promoting First Amendment values — seems intent on violating the First Amendment,” the letter reads.

Netflix Backs Out Of Fight For Net Neutrality

June 4, 2017 Matt Lopez, www.thevideoink.com Resist! FCC, Internet Freedom, Media, Net Neutrality

By Matt Lopez for The Videoink. At Recode’s Code Conference this week, Netlix CEO Reed Hastings all but threw in the towel against the fight for net neutrality. Netflix, which has extended its reach across 190 countries, has been a vocal proponent of net neutrality rules in the past, but Hastings believes it’s not their fight anymore. “We’re big enough to get the deals we want,” he said at the conference. Why is net neutrality so important? Well, it makes sure internet providers enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites. One concern for the loss of net neutrality is the idea that smaller players wouldn’t be able to compete against larger companies that can afford to pay for priority access. An issue that would have been a bigger concern for “the Netflix of 10 years ago,” Hastings said.

6 Things FCC Chairman Doesn’t Want You To Know About Net Neutrality

May 30, 2017 Timothy Karr, www.billmoyers.com Educate! FCC, Net Neutrality, Trump Administration

By Timothy Karr for Bill & Moyers - Under its Trump-annointed chairman, Ajit Pai, the Federal Communications Commission decided last Thursday to revisit its net neutrality ruling. The agency has reopened a docket for public comments on Pai’s proposal to undermine the safeguards needed to protect people from having their internet service providers block, throttle or de-prioritize the online content they want to see. The last time the agency did this, in 2014 and 2015, it unleashed a torrent of public comments in support of the idea that the open internet should have basic protections under the law. Four million people voiced their concerns via the agency’s beleaguered website. The vast majority of these comments supported meaningful net neutrality protections. That’s just what the FCC put in place: It responded to the public outcry and reclassified ISPs like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. The 2015 decision was a stunning victory for the public interest. Millions of net neutrality supporters faced down a mighty phone and cable lobby, which had spent hundreds of millions of dollars over a decade to dismantle the one principle that makes the internet a tremendous engine for equal opportunity, democratic access, free speech and economic innovation.

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