By Julia Rosenbaum, http://boldprogressives.org
BREAKING: Minutes ago, the FCC — led by Obama appointee Julius Genachowski — sold out Net Neutrality and the future of free speech online. The rules — written by Comcast and AT&T, the companies the FCC is supposed to regulate — broke Obama’s campaign promise1 and allow corporate censorship.
Read the 3 reasons why — then sign the petition protesting this action by going to this link:
1: Corporate censorship is allowed on your phone
The rules passed today by Obama FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski absurdly create different corporate censorship rules for wired and wireless Internet, allowing big corporations like Comcast to block websites they don’t like on your phone — a clear failure to fulfill Net Neutrality and put you, the consumer, in control of what you can and can’t do online.2
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson
2: Online tollbooths are allowed, destroying innovation
The rules passed today would allow big Internet Service Providers like Verizon and Comcast to charge for access to the “fast lane.” Big companies that could afford to pay these fees like Google or Amazon would get their websites delivered to consumers quickly, while independent newspapers, bloggers, innovators, and small businesses would see their sites languish in the slow lane, destroying a level playing field for competition online and clearly violating Net Neutrality.3
3: The rules allow corporations to create “public” and “private” Internets, destroying the one Internet as we know it
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts
For the first time, these rules would embrace a “public Internet” for regular people vs. a “private Internet” with all the new innovations for corporations who pay more — ending the Internet as we know it and creating tiers of free speech and innovation, accessible only if you have pockets deep enough to pay off the corporations.4
The FCC could have reclassified and regulated these greedy corporations in an enforceable way, but instead, they sold out. This isn’t Net Neutrality, this is a historic mistake.
Sign to hold President Obama accountable to his promise — and then share with your friends!
Sources:
1: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/13/net-neutrality-obama-see_n_681695.html
2, 3, 4: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-aaron/the-fccs-guide-to-losing_b_795061.html
