A few months ago, we received confirmation of what many of us had feared: incoming Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai announced his plans to eliminate the clear, enforceable protections for net neutrality that the Commission had implemented in 2015.
Since then, people have stood up en masse in support of the open Internet. Over 18 million comments have been filed with the FCC—the majority of them opposing the Commission’s plan to roll back protections for net neutrality. (And it’s not too late! You still have one more week to file a comment of your own.)
Team Internet sent a loud and clear message to the FCC: users have a right to expect protections from unfair practices like site blocking and throttling, and FCC enforcement under Title II of the Telecommunications Act is the only means to secure those protections.
Next month, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will host a hearing on net neutrality. It has invited all of the major Internet service providers, as well as large Internet businesses like Facebook, Google, and Netflix, to come and testify. While it may be encouraging to see Congress turning its focus to net neutrality, it’s troubling that lawmakers appear to be more interested in the thoughts of a handful of large corporations than those of the public that’s been overwhelmingly calling for the preservation of existing net neutrality protections.
We can demand that lawmakers hear from us, though. Please take a moment to write your members of Congress and urge them to stand behind the Open Internet Order. Don’t let Congress compromise on your right to a free and open Internet.
