Kaytee Riek, SumOfUs.org
8:26 AM (1 hour ago)
Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T have taken over the federal agency meant to keep them in check. On May 15th, the agency will unveil the rules that will destroy the internet as we know it.
There are specific subcommittees in Congress that could still stop this -- but only if they’re subjected to massive public pressure.
Tell these two subcommittees: stop Big Telecom from destroying the internet!
Everyone, we need to save the internet.
Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon want to control what we can and cannot do online -- and they’re about to get their wish.
Their lobbyists and lawyers have taken over the FCC -- the agency meant to keep them in check. Now, the former lobbyist running the FCC is about to announcenew rules that will kill Net Neutrality -- the rule that stops Comcast, AT&T, or Verizon from deciding which sites you’re allowed to visit.
There are two specific subcommittees in Congress that could stop this decision before its officially proposed onMay 15th, or even overturn it.
The proposed FCC rules would change the internet from what we know now to something more like corporate television -- a place where faster internet would be reserved for the giant corporations willing to pay to cut the line.
Right now, the internet works like this: both people and websites pay money to their local (often monopolistic) Internet Service Provider (ISP) like Comcast or Verizon. In return, they’re hooked up to the internet. Information flowing through the internet is all treated equally. Under these new rules, the ISPs could hold us hostage. Verizon could choose what content we were able to watch or read, and make sure the next Google or Facebook wasn't able to compete unless they handed over wheelbarrows full of cash. People researching medications might not be able to find the studies showing serious side effects if Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKlein and others pay big bucks to get their sites to show up fastest.
Most alarmingly, the legal basis of these rules could allow ISPs to speed up some sites for money, and slow down everyone else to unuseable speeds.
Groups like SumOfUs only exist because of the open internet of today. Under these new rules, new innovations would find it much harder to take off, because their superior design would be behind an intentionally broken and slow connection. Sites like Wikipedia could disappear from public view or start plastering themselves in ads to pony up the cash needed to pay Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon for the privilege of allowing us to access them.
The head of the FCC is a former lobbyist and telecommunications executive, and he’s hired Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T corporate flacks into the FCC specifically to draft rules for destroying the internet. No wonder they love his proposal.
This is an all-hands on deck moment.
Thanks for all that you do,
Kaytee, Sahar, Paul, Hanna, and the Rest Of Us.
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More information:
More information:
Former Comcast and Verizon Attorneys Now Manage the FCC and Are About to Kill the Internet Lee Fang, Vice News, April 25, 2014
Wake Up, Internet -- Time to Save Yourself. Craig Aaron, Huffington Post, April 24, 2014
Wake Up, Internet -- Time to Save Yourself. Craig Aaron, Huffington Post, April 24, 2014
Keep the Net Neutral
Keep up the pressure on the companies involved in this fiasco. Hit em' where it hurts, namely their bottom line. Boycott their products.