How to defend net neutrality from Trump's FCC
The Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to bury the Federal Communications Commission in comments demanding net neutrality.
The head of the FCC wants to make net neutrality a thing of the past. If his proposal succeeds, internet service providers such as Verizon and Comcast will be able to charge websites a fee to get into what's known as a "fast lane."
Customers will easily be able to access sites wiling to pay the fee, but smaller companies with less cash will have to settle for a choppier connection. Internet service providers could also, of course, prioritize quick internet access for any corporate partner and cause slowdowns for rivals.
The EFF wants none of this, and it's launched a tool to galvanize the internet into railing against the potential death of net neutrality.
That tool is called DearFCC. It's a website that allows visitors to send pro-net neutrality statements to the FCC's public docket. The FCC will vote on May 18 to open the proposal up for official comment, and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai expects a vote on rolling back net neutrality before the start of 2018.
Comments generated by DearFCC are mostly boilerplate, and start with "The FCC should stand up for Internet users by safeguarding net neutrality." But they allow users to select a reason they're afraid of a "pay-to-play" internet, and provide a section for users to type out a reason "the internet matters to me."
The EFF did this back in 2014 as well, as the FCC moved toward enacting net neutrality regulations. The victory was hailed as a great moment for those in favor of an open internet, but that achievement is suddenly in jeopardy.
Topics FCC Net Neutrality
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
