Even people who oppose regulation of business will support keeping Title II net neutrality once they understand it. Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, opposes regulation in general, but he points out that to keep competition we need net neutrality because ISP's have become regional monopolies. More than 60% of people have only one choice of an ISP. Lee says we have a choice -- regulate ISP's or break them up so there is competition and everyone has multiple choices to get on the Internet. Instead of breaking up ISP's Pai is allowing mergers, not only of the Internet providers but also of media outlets and ISP's with Internet providers. Pai is going in the wrong direction, creating more monopolies and putting no restraints on them. We can be sure that monopolies will rip-off the people.
Why It Matters
The Internet has become woven into all aspects of life: finding a job, getting healthcare, advancing in education, starting a business, engaging in political discourse, entertainment and more. It is a source for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. The campaign to save the Internet should be a priority for everyone.
Removal of Title II net neutrality will give Comcast and other ISP's the power to prevent you from going to various websites, allow them to give preference to websites and allow them to charge people tolls to go to the sites they want to visit or to create websites with fast service. ISP's can preference corporations they own or give preference to big business interests that can pay them more money for faster service. This dramatic shift will end the Internet as a source of innovation and turn it into a source of monetization for telecom companies.
Loss of net neutrality will do the most damage to people living in poor and working class communities. It will worsen inequality, as Mike Whitney describes in this report on the digital divide. Net neutrality is part of a broader attack by Pai on Internet justice. He says that he cares about media justice, but in reality he is taking steps that will expand the digital divide. For example, Pai is trying to make it harder for low-income families to access affordable high-speed Internet. And, he is making the Internet more expensive for everyone, e.g. Pai backed out of a proposal to free people from having to rent expensive cable boxes.
We have only a short time to reverse this proposal to take net neutrality away.
Take action now: Click here to submit a comment.
Write to your member of Congress and spread the word. We will also have to take this fight to the streets and the doors of the FCC. Sign up at ProtectOurInternet.org to stay informed of upcoming actions.
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