Congress guts Net Neutrality

From Fight For The Future:

Bad news: The House Appropriations Committee just voted for 3 provisions that gut Net Neutrality less than a week after the rules finally went into effect.

All of the provisions are poison for Net Neutrality, but the worst would stop the FCC from implementing the rules until after the courts resolve all ten lawsuits that have been filed against the rules. That could mean no Net Neutrality for years, if not a decade.

The good news is we've filed to formally intervene in the DC Circuit's US Telecom Association v. FCC, on the side of the FCC, and will fight Comcast tooth and nail until we win, alongside some of the smartest lawyers and groups out there.

Can you chip in $5 to support our intervention in favor of Net Neutrality?

Yes, I can chip in $5 to fight Team Cable in court.

Yes — and I’ll chip in $5 every month because I know this fight isn’t going to end soon.

Net Neutrality is already one of the top issues of our time, and the new rules have the strongest legal standing possible. But we need to do the work to make the courts and everyone understand them inside and out.

To make sure we show up in court with resounding support, we're launching huge educational campaigns. We'll reach people from both sides of the aisle in online/offline communities and critical ad campaigns at key moments, so that support for net neutrality gets stronger day by day.

Team Cable has an array of lawyers and lobbyists hungry to prove themselves and get bigger bonuses. But we've got the support of the same powerful grassroots that stopped SOPA, crushed CISPA, and submitted a record number of comments to the FCC in favor of these rules.

Smart interventions can take on and take down big, entrenched powers. But to get the defense of Net Neutrality off the ground requires a lot of support, including money for things like design, ads, and phone calls. That’s why your donation is critical — so we can go big to protect the open Internet.

We're only days into net neutrality, and lawsuits are already mounting. Can you make a donation to help save the free and open Internet?

Yes, I’ll chip in $5 to save net neutrality.

As a movement, we won Net Neutrality. Millions of people weighed in and forced the FCC to produce the strongest open Internet protections in history.

That’s the kind of thing we can do when we all take action together — help us launch that kind of effort again now to protect Net Neutrality.

Yes, I'll donate.

Thanks for joining the fight for the future.

~ Tiff, Holmes, Evan, Charlie, Jeff, and the whole Fight for the Future team

P.S. We also have an ace up our sleeves in this fight — proof that a some cable companies have been throttling connections for months, if not longer. We can't give you all the details yet, but if you chip in $5 now we'll have all the resources we need to make the proof stick. Click here to chip in $5.

Join the protest to protect Net Neutrality

From Demand Progress:

Imagine all your favorite websites taking forever to load, while you get annoying notifications from your ISP suggesting you switch to one of their approved “Fast Lane” sites.

Think about what we would lose: all the weird, alternative, interesting, and enlightening stuff that makes the Internet so much cooler than mainstream Cable TV. What if the only news sites you could reliably connect to were the ones that had deals with companies like Comcast and Verizon?

How would your worldview be different? Do you think you’d have found Demand Progress or other causes you care about? Would you be getting this email?

On September 10th, just a few days before the FCC’s comment deadline, public interest organizations are issuing an open, international call for websites and internet users to unite for an “Internet Slowdown” to show the world what the web would be like if Team Cable gets their way and trashes net neutrality.

We need everyone on board for this. Got a website or blog? Find out how the slowdown works and how you can join here.

If you don’t have a website, you are still part of this! Here’s a quick list of things you can do to help in the Battle for the Net.

This isn’t about how quickly our cat videos load, it’s about the future of our ability to communicate, to learn, to create, and to rebel. It’s about the future of humanity.

We've proved time and again that even concentrated monopoly and government power is no match for the power of people’s voices connected and amplified by the free and open web.

That power is our greatest asset as we take on some of the country's wealthiest, most aggressive, and most corrupt corporations. This could be one of our last chances to defend it.

If we lose it, we lose a lot more than just the Internet. If we win, we win a lot more than just streaming video. The stakes are high and we should be acting like it.

The Internet is counting on each and every one of us to act. Let’s not let ourselves down. See you on the net September 10th!

Thanks.

-Demand Progress

Net Neutrality is gaining Congressional support

From Fight For The Future:

Did you read this article about net neutrality that Comcast tried to have censored? Like many attempts at corporate censorship, it totally backfired.

We could hardly ask for a more perfect example of what the stakes are in the Battle for the Net. If we lose net neutrality, there will be nothing to stop Internet providers like Comcast from going on a censorship rampage -- picking and choosing what we can and can’t see based on whether it aligns with their corrupt interests.

Why was Comcast so intent on censoring the article in question? It exposed some of their most immoral lobbying efforts, using astroturf groups to attempt to speak on behalf of communities of color. This isn’t the first time an ISP has been caught outright in this type of scam -- last month the leaders of national Deaf advocacy organizations embarrassed Verizon for attempting to convince Congress that net neutrality rules would be bad for people with disabilities.

We know that the big Cable companies are playing dirty, and have tons of money to amplify their twisted versions of the truth, but we’re ready for them.

So who’s on Team Cable cheerleading for censorship and who’s on Team Internet standing up for free speech through Title II reclassification?

Well, we just updated BattleForTheNet.com with a new political scoreboard so you can find out which side of the battle politicians and companies are choosing. Click here to check it out and share.

The next few weeks will be key as we build up our resistance to Comcast and co’s attempt at net domination. As we get closer to the FCC’s September deadline and decision, we’ll be striking harder and more often, and we’ll need everyone to step up and challenge themselves to do more.

This Thursday, August 7th, at 4pm EDT, we’re hosting a strategy call for anyone and everyone who wants to get more involved in the fight for net neutrality. Want to join? Contact Fight For The Future

Hope to talk to you then!

For Team Internet,
-Evan at Fight for the Future

P.S. Please chip in $10 (or whatever you can) today to help us keep winning in the battle for the net.