This is the next move to restore net neutrality
If it feels like you’re fighting battles on every side, you’re not alone. The struggle is terrifyingly real. But we can still make this year the best possible version of 2018 it can be. There’s a new opportunity to restore strong net neutrality protections: The Congressional Review Act.
What is the Congressional Review Act?
The CRA lets the House and Senate repeal administrative laws—rules and regulations set by governmental agencies—with a simple majority in both houses. The resolutions can’t be blocked by leadership, amended, or filibustered.
This congress has used the CRA more than any other to overturn regulations that protect vulnerable people and the environment, but this time we can use it for a good purpose—to reverse the FCC’s decision and restore net neutrality.
We just need #OneMoreVote
Battle For The Net has secured commitments from 50 senators. One more and we can take this fight to the House. These are the targets:
- John Kennedy (Louisiana) | 202-224-4623 | Email
- John McCain (Arizona) | 202-224-2235 | Email
- Orrin Hatch (Utah) | 202-224-5251 | Email
- Dean Heller (Nevada) | 202-224-6244 | Email
If you live in these states, we need you. Even if you don’t, you can still help the cause.
Go to battleforthenet.com to write or call your representatives.
Tell them to support the “Resolution of Disapproval” and overturn the FCC’s December 14 “Restoring Internet Freedom” vote.
Once more for old time’s sake
🔥 With your help, we passed Title II net neutrality protections. Now we need to defend it.🔥
On December 14 the FCC will vote on Commissioner Pai’s plan to repeal Title II rules. This week he tried to justify that decision with a “myth busting” explainer where he makes a lot of sweeping claims he doesn’t think you’ll fact check.
So let’s go through his big points:
❌ Mr. Pai claims ISPs won’t block access or throttle content
These are the real facts. Before Title II, the internet was so “free and open” that…
- Comcast blocked P2P file sharing services (EFF).
- AT&T blocked Skype from iPhones (Fortune) and, later, wanted FaceTime users to pay for a more expensive plan (Freepress).
- MetroPCS blocked all streaming video except YouTube (Wired).
In today’s media market where the same huge companies make and deliver content, Commissioner Pai wants us to trust that corporations won’t use their dominance to bury competitive content or services.
❌ Mr. Pai claims Title II keeps ISPs from building new networks
Here’s another claim Commissioner Pai doesn’t want you to fact check, but:
- AT&T’s own CEO told investors that the company would deploy more fiber optic networks in 2016 than 2015 when the FCC passed Title II protections (Investor call transcript).
- Charter’s CEO said “Title II, it didn’t really hurt us; it hasn’t hurt us” (Ars Technica).
- And Comcast actually increased investment in their network by 10% in Q1 of this year (Ars).
❌ Mr. Pai claims repealing Title II won’t hurt competition
As we mentioned above, ISPs tried to interfere with the services their customers could access and courts had to step in to stop them.
The FCC tried to craft net neutrality rules in 2010 called the Open Internet Order but the ISPs sued and won. The courts told the FCC that the only way to guarantee a free and open internet was using their Title II authority. Without those protections, any of these things would be legal:
- Your ISP launches a streaming video service and starts throttling other streaming services until they’re unusable.
- Your phone company cuts a deal with a popular music streaming service so it doesn’t count towards your data cap but lowers your overall data limit. If a better service comes along (or your favorite artist releases new tracks somewhere else) you can’t use it without incurring huge data fees.
- A billionaire buys your ISP and blocks access to news sites that challenge their ideology.
Repealing Title II would be like letting a car company own the roads and banning a competitor from the highways.
❌ Mr. Pai claims there won’t be fast lanes and slow lanes
Let’s break this down: We won’t have fast lanes and slow lanes, we’ll have “priority access” and…non-priority access? Well gosh.
🚨 Please help us protect Title II one more time! 🚨
This week we co-signed a letter with more than 300 other companies—businesses Mr. Pai gleefully ignores—urging the FCC to retain the Title II internet protections. Now we need you.
Go to 👉 Battle For The Net 👈 to start a call with your representatives in Congress. Tell them to publicly support Title II protections.
The FCC votes on December 14.
We’re only powerful when we work together.
Oh, also: that post about automatically unfollowing the #net neutrality tag—it’s not true. It’s really not. That’s not who we are. Whatever happened, we haven’t been able to reproduce it. We tried. A lot.
But if it were true—which it’s not, we feel compelled to say again—THAT’S EXACTLY WHY YOU SHOULD CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES and demand a free, open, and neutral internet.
We can do this one more time, guys! ❤️
🚨 The internet needs you 🚨
You’re up again, Tumblr.
Back in 2015 you demanded that the FCC adopt strict net neutrality rules and establish a free and open internet. And you won.
That should’ve been the end of it. But apparently not.
The new head of the FCC wants to undo the net neutrality protections you fought so hard for.
His proposed changes open the door to your web traffic being slowed down, or even blocked altogether. You could be forced to pay extra to use your favorite apps. You could even be prevented from getting news from the sources you trust.
Title II protects consumers and democracy by ensuring all voices can be heard.
You know the drill. Here’s what to do:
The FCC is taking comments from the public, and dearfcc.org is making it as simple as possible for you to make your voice heard.
Go there now 👉 dearfcc.org ✌️
You’ll just need to provide a name, an address, and then say a little bit about why rolling back Title II protections is a bad idea. If you’re not quite sure what to write, here’s something to get you started:
I’m writing to urge you to keep our Open Internet rules based on Title II in place. Without them, we could lose the internet as we know it.
The proposed changes to FCC rules would allow fast lanes for sites that pay, and force everyone else into slow lanes. We’ve already seen access to streaming services like Netflix, popular games like League of Legends, and communication platforms like FaceTime slowed down, or even blocked. Conditions like this hurt businesses large and small, and penalize the users who patronize them.
The changes also open the door to unfair taxes on internet users, and could also make it harder for blogs, nonprofits, artists, and others who can’t pay up to have their voices heard.
Please leave the existing net neutrality rules based on Title II in place.
Thank you!
If you need more ammo, feel free to quote these experts from our net neutrality Issue Time. TechCrunch and Battle for the Net also have some good starters.
Everyone is counting on everyone else here. Do your part and tell the FCC to keep a free and open internet under Title II.
Great news! The net neutrality rules you all fought so hard for (and won!) have gone into effect. The FCC’s Open Internet is Order is officially official.
Pop open a bottle of whatever you celebrate with, but don’t get toooo comfortable yet. In a bogus and sneaky move, some members of Congress are using a funding maneuver to prohibit the FCC from implementing its own net neutrality rules.
If you care about internet freedom and you have a spare minute,you can help make sure Congress doesn’t screw up this victory.Call up one of these key members of the House Appropriations Committee and and ask them to take out the anti–net neutrality language from the House Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2016, specifically sections 628, 629, and 630:
- Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-FL, who introduced the bill)
- Rep. Henry Cuellar (R-TX, who’s advocating for the interests of the carriers)
- Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY, who’s currently the best champion of changes to the bill that will preserve net neutrality)
More details: This is a general appropriations bill that funds independent agencies, including the FCC, through the coming year. Legislators on the Appropriations subcommittee are trying to thwart net neutrality by attaching specifically targeted riders to the bill. Considering that the FCC’s monumental ruling was the culmination of a remarkably open and participatory debate, these background moves are a particularly cynical circumvention of the democratic process and the will of the people.
It’s nasty business, and President Obama won’t be able to do anything about it except by vetoing the entire bill. Let’s not put him in this pickle. Call up and demand the fair and open internet you fought for (and, again, won!).
This is huge. Today, President Obama himself has come out in favor of a number of clear, specific, and firm net neutrality rules that will keep the internet free and open. We couldn’t be more thrilled.
Give yourselves credit for this one. Tumblr users have been out in front of this issue all year. 130,000 of you called Congress in a single day. You showed Washington and the FCC what democracy looks like—it looks like the internet. You made your voice heard, and the president was listening.
The specifics: Obama has called for the reclassification of broadband service providers under Title II, which means the FCC can hold them to the same sensible rules that telephone companies are regulated through. This means—and this is directly from the president—that there can be no blocking, no throttling, no paid prioritization, and that the rules will cover mobile, too. To sum it up in a couple words: Fuck yeah.
One last thing: we’re almost at the finish line, but we’re not quite there yet. It’s vitally important that the FCC, in light of the president’s announcement, act to issue these rules (and not any of the weaker, riskier proposals that are in consideration) during their December meeting. We need immediate action. In the meantime, our policy team will be taking your concerns directly to the FCC, and you can keep updated on any further actions you can take by following themediafix and fight4future.
We’re almost there, guys. Let’s bring it home.