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While the Guinness people haven’t sent me a plaque yet, I’m confidently claiming this world record: most times shouting “net neutrality” into a megaphone.
Over nearly two decades, I’ve led or joined dozens of protests and rallies to call for “net neutrality” — the fundamental idea that when you go online you should be able to control your own internet experience without interference, blocking or discrimination by the company you pay for access.
In that time, net neutrality has gone from a nerdy academic concept to a popular cause. Millions of people have called on the Federal Communications Commission to protect the free and open internet — backed by the authority of Title II of the Communications Act — registering more public comments on this issue than any other in the agency’s history.
Now, under the leadership of FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel — who had to wait two years to act until the Senate filled a vacant seat on the commission — net neutrality, gutted under the Trump administration, is back on the docket. A new vote to restore it is set for Thursday at the FCC.
Like the internet they were trying to save, previous net neutrality protests were incredibly diverse and gloriously weird: an “Occupy the FCC” encampment, a rally outside a downtown Seattle Verizon store, a herd of (stuffed) cats, a wrestling match, a go-go band and giant video billboards placed outside the FCC’s windows.
In the face of overwhelming public support for net neutrality from across the political spectrum, the telecom industry spent untold millions of dollars trying to thwart any oversight or regulation. It got nasty, and prosecutors got involved.
Activists celebrated when the Obama-era FCC implemented strong net neutrality rules under Title II in 2015 but their victory was short-lived. The Trump administration gutted the rules in 2017. The courts ultimately backed the Republican-controlled FCC, even if the agency’s reasoning was “unhinged from the realities of modern broadband service,” as a judge wrote.
This time around, the debate has been much, much quieter.
But that’s a good thing: There’s no need for protest when the FCC is actually doing its job, delivering on its promises and getting the details right.
The debate over net neutrality, like the internet, has evolved over the past 20 years. But the central concern remains the same: Does the FCC have the authority, vested in Title II of the Communications Act, to step in when internet service providers are blocking or interfering with the free flow of information online?
Without Title II authority, the FCC can’t protect user privacy, promote broadband competition, eliminate hidden junk fees and other scams, or step in when monopoly-minded internet service providers do you wrong. During the height of the pandemic, for example, the FCC was left begging companies not to cut off service because the agency lacked the legal mandate to make demands of AT&T, Charter, Comcast and Verizon.
The draft order released in April by Rosenworcel and her staff would fix these problems and restore the agency’s rightful authority over internet access services.
In the remaining days before a final vote, we’re likely to see an upsurge in industry-fueled misinformation and long-debunked claims.
They’ll claim the whole thing will be overturned in court, even though the FCC’s assertion of Title II authority has withstood previous legal challenges.
They’ll try to paint this as a polarized, partisan issue when outside of Washington, D.C., and in every reputable poll, the political left, right and center clearly want net neutrality.
The truth is that net neutrality is so necessary because it’s how the internet has always worked — and it’s what makes possible an internet where people can make their own choices, not just pick from a fixed menu dictated and filtered by a few giant gatekeepers.
Whatever the obstacles, this is what democracy should look like: public servants responding to public demands, taking steps to protect fairness and free expression and showing that the government is capable of defending the public interest.
I may still need to get my megaphone out of mothballs after all. Because restoring net neutrality will be a victory worth shouting about.
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