ADVOCATES PLAN DAY OF ACTION FOR JULY 12,
Amazon, the American Civil Liberties Union, Greenpeace and other tech companies and organizations are planning a day of action July 12 to rally support for Net neutrality regulations passed by the Federal Communication Commission two years ago.
This is a return to the Net neutrality supporters’ playbook — many companies and groups participated in an Internet Slowdown Day on Sept. 10, 2014, nearing the end of the last days the public could comment on the Open Internet order under consideration by the FCC.
Those Net neutrality regulations, passed in 2015 and supported by President Obama, prohibit Internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking and throttling content or from prioritizing some content over other content, possibly for payment. The rules also include an Internet conduct standard preventing ISPs from unreasonable interference with consumers’ access to destinations on the Net.
The FCC’s current chairman, Ajit Pai, has proposed an overhaul of the rules, calling them too strict on ISPs and archaic for relying on “utility-style regulation” based on regulations formulated for telephone companies within The Communications Act of 1934.
Supporters of current rules have planned the day of action to occur before initial comments about the process must be filed with the FCC (July 17). The public then has another month to submit replies about comments filed over the previous two months. Public comments have already surpassed the then-record 4 million submitted on the 2015 rules. So far, the FCC has received more than 4.9 million pub- lic comments. However, there has been concern about the validity of some comments with proponents on both sides of the issue claiming that fraudulent filings have been submitted.
More than 15 major tech companies and 30 public interest groups plan to participate in the event, which will include online protests and possibly an as-yetunscheduled live event.
“Massive online mobilization got us the strong Net neutrality protections that we have now, and we intend to fight tooth and nail to defend them,” Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future, one of the groups participating, said in a statement announcing the event.
Other companies participating include Etsy, GitHub, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Reddit, Mozilla, Vimeo and Y Combinator.
One big name missing? Netflix, which for years has been a chief corporate backer of strong Net neutrality rules. Net neutrality is “incredibly important,” CEO Reed Hastings said last week at the Code Conference near Los Angeles. While the company still supports the concept through the Internet Association, Netflix has gotten big enough “to get the deals we want,” he said.
A recent Mozilla-Ipsos poll found 76% of Americans support Net neutrality, says Denelle Dixon, Mozilla’s chief legal and business officer.