Campaign Action
Even though the Senate voted last month to save net neutrality, the House has yet to act. That means that today is the day. The FCC's execution date for the rule. As of now, it's over. There are no enforceable legal protections against content discrimination by internet service providers.
... the new ruling clears the way for massive internet service providers to do practically whatever they like — including paid prioritization, throttling, and otherwise messing with traffic as it moves across the internet. [...]
Carriers aren't going to drop the throttle-hammer on day one, but they will continue on the path they have been on for years: using their control over the network to promote carrier-owned services and products.
That's a given. We know ISPs are going to exploit their new-found freedom because they have a long history of abusing their power to control content. Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, MetroPCS—they've all taken actions that demonstrate just how far they're willing to go to shut down content and services that threaten their profits. While they're unlikely to take immediate action to take over the internet—that could backfire for them legally and politically—they'll slowly but surely continue down the path of controlling the internet.
But here's the thing. We are as relentless in saving the internet as they are in destroying it. We've been at this for a lot of years now and aren't going to give up. Open internet advocates are fighting back in the courts, in the states and still in Congress, where the effort to force a discharge petition vote is still gaining steam.
In a midterm election year in which Republicans just keep shooting themselves in the foot, here's another instance. A poll by Ipsos Mozilla in April found a whopping 91 percent of Americans "believe consumers should be able to freely and quickly access their preferred content on the internet." It's why we won the fight for net neutrality in the first place, and while we'll win again in the end.
Please give $1 to our Senate and House funds so that Republicans pay the price for trying to destroy the internet.