The Federal Communications Commission will decide next month whether to take strong action to protect net neutrality, and by all indications that's just what they'll vote to do: reclassify broadband under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, which gives them clear authority to enforce net neutrality. An indication of how good it looks for net neutrality is a newfound zeal on the part of Republicans in Congress to
pretend they support net neutrality, but to introduce sham legislation. Last week they held hearings on that sham legislation, but activists were ready for them.
Evan Greer, campaign director of digital rights nonprofit Fight for the Future, explains how activists organized, and the overwhelming and encouraging results.
So when members of Congress who take some of the most money in campaign contributions from "Big Cable" companies held cynical hearings that were transparently designed to undermine the public will on net neutrality, it didn’t take much to get our members angry. We just told them the hearings were happening, and put a livestream on our website BattleForTheNet.com alongside a tool that let people call their reps with one click.
We added a feature where, after a person talks to 10 members of Congress, they get connected to a Fight for the Future staff member, so we could personally thank them, typically in an awkward but inspiring fashion. It seemed like a great idea when we started.
By nightfall, our page had connected more than 17,000 phone calls to Congress, with some tiny fraction of those coming through to my personal cell. Turns out a tiny fraction of 17,000 is still a lot. […]
I talked to a rapper from the Bronx, a farmer from South Dakota, a high ranking Google employee, several high school students, people with disabilities, religious folks, LGBTQ activists, and grandmas. No seriously, So. Many. Grandmas. I talked to people who said they had never called Congress before about anything, and who said they didn’t follow politics much but this issue had them fired up.
Remember, the calls were forwarded to Greer and staff only after these folks had already talked to 10 congressional offices. That's motivation. And it's an indication of just how universal the support for strong net neutrality is. Congress got a taste of that last week during the hearings. They have to hear an awful lot more.
Please, help us protect all that we’ve built with this amazing campaign. Call your members of Congress today urging them to “Let the FCC do its job” to create net neutrality rules and protect an open internet.
Can't call? Sign and send a petition to your member of Congress: Don't kill net neutrality.