Corporations Win! End Network Neutrality

The court has ruled that the FCC has no jurisdiction over the internet!



Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski can simply change the FCC regulatory rules to give the Federal Communications Commission jurisdiction over the internet.

People have to remember, all media—television, radio, phone service—every type of media other than the printed page, will soon be delivered by a broadband or internet connection. That means these wonky sort of arcane rules that are being played out at the Federal Communications Commission and in the court ruling yesterday, these will shape the media for generations, what it looks like, whether independent voices like Democracy Now! can get into the suite of options that people have across the country when they turn on a television. It will determine whether we can bridge the digital divide that currently has the United States slipping from fourth in the year 2000 to twenty-second in broadband adoption and speed and affordability. It will really determine whether or not we will have a twenty-first century internet economy or whether we’ll continue to lag behind the rest of the world.

Call him [(202) 418-1000, and 888-CALL-FCC (888-225-5322)], email him [ Julius.Genachowski@fcc.gov ], and tell Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski you want Network Neutrality, all information on the internet must be equal, or we loose free speech and we loose our democracy!

Sample Letter:

Julius,

The future of American Free Speech, and thus our democracy, rests in your hands.

Just because a company owns the INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE does NOT give it the right to regulate which information we will be 'allowed' to communicate! Any company that passes information from one state to another falls under Federal Jurisdiction. Thus, ALL INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS should fall under FCC jurisdiction. COMCAST is an interstate information infrastructure corporation, and must not be allowed to regulate free speech.

Here’s the deal: under the Bush FCC, the agency decided to classify and treat broadband Internet service providers the same as any Internet applications company like Facebook or Lexis-Nexis, placing broadband providers outside of the legal framework that traditionally applied to the companies that offer two-way communications services.

That’s the loophole that let Comcast wiggle out from under the agency’s thumb.

Change it back

There’s an easy fix here: The FCC can change broadband back to a “communications service,” which is where it should have been in the first place. By reclassifying broadband, all of these questions about authority will fall away and the FCC can pick up where it left off – protecting the Internet for the public and bridging the digital divide.

Name
Address
Phone
email