People + Policy
= Positive Change for the Public Good
We can't let Chairman Pai have the last word on this.
Here's a sample script for you to use during your call:
Net Neutrality keeps the internet free and open — enabling anyone to share and access information of their choosing without interference.
But on Dec. 14, 2017, the FCC voted along party lines to pass Chairman Pai’s plan to dismantle the Net Neutrality rules.
Without these rules, companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon will be able to block or slow down any online content — including political speech they disagree with. This will disproportionately harm people of color and other marginalized communities who use the internet to fight systemic discrimination and share their stories.
Net Neutrality is essential to education, economic opportunity, innovation, social movements and dissent. Without Net Neutrality there’s no way to organize for justice or power the resistance.
It took millions of people signing petitions, bombarding the FCC with comments, calling lawmakers and protesting in the streets to win the Net Neutrality rules in 2015. Now that the Trump FCC has overturned these protections, we need to do all that — and more — to save the open internet. Urge Congress to reverse the FCC vote today.
A federal court strikes down the FCC’s 2010 Open Internet Order.
The FCC’s new proposal is leaked — and public interest in Net Neutrality soars.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler officially proposes his flawed rules. Hundreds of people converge outside the FCC headquarters in Washington, D.C. and rallies break out in cities across the U.S.
On the day initial public comments on the FCC’s proposal are due, the agency’s servers crash thanks to the heavy traffic. Within a few short hours Free Press and allies mobilize to hand-deliver hundreds of thousands of comments. The agency makes the unprecedented move of extending its deadline by three days.
The SUMMER TO SAVE THE INTERNET: Activists participate in dozens upon dozens of in-district meetings with congressional offices, rally outside fundraisers President Obama attends in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, and file comments in record numbers at the FCC in favor of real Net Neutrality.
The Internet Slowdown. On Sept. 10, hundreds of organizations and online companies — including Netflix, Kickstarter, Etsy and Tumblr — display a spinning icon representing a slow-loading Internet on their websites. This massive day of action drives 2 million emails and nearly 300,000 calls to Congress, and 777,364 people file comments with the FCC.
The period for public reply comments closes. A record-breaking 3.7 million people have filed comments — and most support real Net Neutrality. Big rallies are held in New York City and Philadelphia.
Free Press and allies organize a big speakout in New York City to highlight the voices of the communities the FCC's decision will most impact.
The Wall Street Journal reports on new rules under consideration — rules that would still allow slow lanes online. A huge backlash follows in the press and among public interest groups.
President Obama releases a video statement urging the FCC to reclassify broadband under Title II.
Chairman Wheeler confirms that his new rules use Title II to give Internet users the strongest protections possible.
Victory! The FCC approves Title II-based rules that ban blocking, throttling and paid prioritization online.
Free Press files a legal motion to intervene in the industry-backed court case challenging the FCC's Net Neutrality rules.
Free Press files a joint legal brief to defend the FCC’s Net Neutrality rules.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejects an industry challenge and upholds the FCC's Open Internet Order in all respects, stating that the agency exercised its proper authority when it reclassified broadband internet access as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai releases a proposal that would destroy the Title II Net Neutrality rules.
More than 22 million comments are submitted on Pai's plan. The FCC ignores widespread proof of fake and fraudulent comments. Studies show up to 98 percent of legitimate individual comments support keeping the open-internet rules.
Draft text of Pai's proposal is released. Within days, 500,000 calls are made to Congress asking lawmakers to call on the FCC to cancel the vote.
The FCC’s Republican majority votes to gut the Net Neutrality rules. The two Democratic commissioners dissent. Free Press pledges to sue the FCC.
Our rights to connect and communicate — via universally accessible, open, affordable and fast communications networks and devices — are essential to our individual, economic and political freedoms.
And right now — when the rights of undocumented immigrants, people of color, religious minorities, women and the LGBTQ community are under attack — we need the open internet to mobilize and fight back.
People + Policy
= Positive Change for the Public Good