2017-12-05 By Gail Berritt
This is a really crucial issue for Americans. Almost everyone uses the internet. Now it’s open (neutral), but there is a push to create different lanes, and better faster services – for a price. We, people of all income levels, would no longer enjoy net neutrality, which means equal, open and free exchange of information.
The Republican led Federal Communications Commission scheduled a vote on net neutrality on Dec 14. Forty consumer advocacy groups and the City of New York asked for a delay, but FCC Chairman will forge ahead on repeal.
What does repealing net neutrality mean? It means that your internet service provider (ISP) can give preferential treatment to certain content, generally if it would financially benefit an affiliate.
I’ll use Rupert Mudoch in an extreme example: If Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox News) were to buy your internet service provider, (e.g. Verizon), then he could charge you a higher fee to watch cnn.com than foxnews.com, making it more likely that more people will watch Fox. Or he could deliver content from his affiliates at high speeds but make you wait longer to see non-affiliated content. Or deliver it at lower quality.
This is less of an issue in areas where there is competition among ISP’s, so people can choose their internet service provider. Not all areas have many choices though. Many areas have only 2 or even only 1 ISP. We don’t even have that many to choose from here in the Northeast, and it is unlikely that competition will be enough to cause any ISPs to stay neutral.
We need to preserve our open internet and save #NetNeutrality!
ACTION: EMAIL THE FCC
Everybody uses the internet! It affects us all. Tell all your friends about this easy action:
These three people at the Federal Communications Commission will decide the fate of the internet in a vote on December 14th.
1. Ajit Pai – Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov or 202-418-1000
2. Michael O’Rielly – Mike.ORielly@fcc.gov
3. Brendan Carr – Brendan.Carr@fcc.gov
LIGHT UP THEIR INBOXES with the message below!
(Use as it is, or elaborate and put it in your own words)
My name is ___________ and I’m a concerned citizen from Connecticut.
I’m writing to you today to express my extreme and sincere disapproval that the FCC is trying to kill Net Neutrality and the strong Title II oversight of Internet Service Providers. Preserving an open internet is crucial for fair and equal access to the resources and information available on it. I support Net Neutrality and a fair and open Internet. I demand you immediately abandon this atrocious plan to overturn Net Neutrality and Title II oversight.
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This is going to be a huge fight. Access to information is what makes this country great. Please gear up.
Sources: Lauren Gray’s post from Action Together CT and Andrea’s post for her New York Indivisible group.
Please comment on Gail Berrit’s post, edited by Janet Luongo. Please subscribe to Insight to Action.
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