This Thursday... The Internet Will Strike Back!

There's this thing called the Internet.

It's a global system of interconnected computers of critical importance to infrastructure, trade and the exchange of information. As it grows, governments are increasingly trying to get a handle on it.

Some autocratic regimes try to censor the kind of information passed through the online tubes to their citizens. But in more democratic countries, governments see it as their role try try protect the open, unabated flow of free information... Right?

Wrong.

In the United States of America, one of the oldest and most robust modern democracies, politicians seem intent not only on allowing corporations to filter the Internet, but in preventing the authorities from regulating the Internet at all.

For years, the rules governing Internet access in the US have been set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an "independent" government agency. As we have reported extensively on Change.org, the FCC hasn't exactly done a stellar job at protecting net neutrality.

First they rubber stamped the controversial acquisition of NBC Universal, owners of a major TV Network, several cable channels and a movie studio, by Comcast, the nation’s largest provider of cable TV and residential broadband Internet service. The "megadeal" merger will create a media content and distribution behemoth easily capable of discriminating against rival content providers or distributors. The Consumers Union of United States, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, admirably campaigned against the merger, as did Senator Al Franken in an article on Change.org.

Then late last year chairman of the the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Julius Genachowski, who has met more with telecommunications executives than anyone else, caved like a deer in headlights with the release of his new 'regulations' for US providers of Internet, cable and phone services, which didn’t meet any acceptable standard of net neutrality and are about as robust and enforceable as those 'Please Don't Feed the Ducks' sign at the local pond.

Telecommunications executives seem swimmingly happy about the new proposals, and President Obama put a lovely spin on it.

But in what activists are calling the "Net Neutrality sellout", under the FCC's new rules cable and phone providers are be able to sell 'Internet prioritization' to the highest bidder, meaning one company could pay to provide Internet users with faster or higher quality access to their products than those of their competitors. The FCC rules also allow for "specialized services", a loophole which already allows cable and phone providers to create fast and slow lanes for the Internet. Net neutrality activists say that even those aspects of the new FCC rules seemingly set to regulate the industry actually have no teeth, and do not even apply to wireless Internet services.

Put simply, the free and open Internet as all those reading this currently know it, was radically changed a few months ago. Internet service providers will soon be able to choose which websites you can easily and quickly access based on how much the owners of those sites are willing to pay.

The Save the Internet Coalition, an initiative of the media reform group Free Press with two million supporters, has been organizing against the FCC decision on with a campaign on Change.org.

But tomorrow the US Congress is set to unveil a bill that will not only repeal the already weak FCC regulations on net neutrality, but will also prevent the FCC from setting rules regarding net neutrality in the future.

In other words, politicians don't just want to get rid of the rules protecting net neutrality, they want to get rid of the rule makers themselves.

The bill is part of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to overturn regulations passed by federal agencies, in this case the FCC’s already weak Net Neutrality regulations. If Congress completely overturns them, it will allow Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to freely decide which services and types of traffic their users should have access to, and which not.

But the CRA does not just overturn pre-existing regulations, it also prevents an agency from passing future regulations on the same topic.

In short: if this bill passes, today's net neutrality protections will be nullified, and there won't be any to replace them in the future.

Net neutrality activists have had enough, and are setting this Thursday, February 17, as the day that "The Internet Strikes Back."

Remember, this is the only time that Congress will vote "yes or no" on net neutrality, so it's critical that Internet users band together to protect Internet freedoms.

Please join the campaign by:

1. Calling your Congressional representative and telling them how important Net Neutrality is. Sign up to receive a text message this Thursday.  Then, when you get the message, simply reply to the message with "act" and you'll be automatically connected with your member of Congress. Pretty cool, eh?
2. Spreading the word. Share news of the campaign on Facebook and tweet this: On Thursday the #InternetStrikesBack! Tell Congress to stand up for #netneutrality http://bit.ly/internetstrikesback

Thanks for taking action!

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Photo: Public Knowledge