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24 major netroots groups launch effort to support the ‘Save the Internet Act’
Demand Progress
Following the introduction of the Save the Internet Act to restore net neutrality protections in the House and Senate, some of the country’s largest netroots groups are launching an effort to support the bicameral legislation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
This week, 24 major netroots groups are re-launching StopTheFCC.net, to drive constituent emails and phone calls urging lawmakers to support the Save the Internet Act to restore the net neutrality protections repealed by the FCC.
Groups participating are American Family Voices, California Clean Money Action Fund, California League of Conservation Voters, Center For Media Justice, Climate Hawks Vote, Color Of Change, Common Dreams, Common Cause, Daily Kos, Demand Progress, Democracy for America, Free Press Action Fund, Friends of the Earth Action, The Nation, OpenMedia, Other 98%, People For the American Way, People Demanding Action, Progress America, Public Citizen, RootsAction, SumOfUs, Watchdog.net, and Win Without War.
The Save the Internet Act, which already has over 130 cosponsors in the House and 46 cosponsors in the Senate, would restore the strong protections from the 2015 Open Internet Order and prevent internet providers from blocking, throttling and engaging in paid prioritization, while promoting broadband competition and access. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology is holding the first hearing on the legislation today at 11am EDT.
Since late 2017, StopTheFCC.net and related efforts have driven over 1.5 million emails to Congress, and over 100,000 phone calls, helping to secure the bipartisan passage in the Senate of a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the FCC’s repeal.
Going forward, groups taking part in StopTheFCC.net will mobilize to urge members of Congress to co-sponsor and vote for the Stop the Internet Act, while also pressing members to reject any weakening amendments and bills that don’t fully restore the protections repealed by the FCC.
“If it were up to telecom executives and their lobbyists, a free and open internet would have been scrapped long ago. Slow lanes on the internet and even higher monthly bills from ISPs would be the norm,” said Mark Stanley, director of communications for Demand Progress. “But this is one issue where well-funded special interests in Washington don’t get to have their way. Grassroots activists have refused to rollover, and going forward, we’re going to continue to fight until lawmakers get behind the push to restore strong net neutrality.”
“There’s a well documented bias among conservative news outlets against basic climate science, and it’s poisoned our democracy. At Climate Hawks Vote, we stand for net neutrality because a world in which Fox and Breitbart News are preferred over accurate information on the internet would, quickly, become an uninhabitable world,” said RL Miller, political director at Climate Hawks Vote.
“Net Neutrality is not a partisan issue – it’s an issue of democracy. A modern democratic society must have a free and open Internet. The Save the Internet Act will restore the critical Net Neutrality protections needed to ensure everyone has open access to the full Internet – regardless of their provider, or how much they’re able to pay,” said OpenMedia Executive Director Laura Tribe. “We can’t afford to let companies decide what we can and can’t see online. We can’t afford Internet slow lanes. We need the full Internet, and we need it now. That is why the OpenMedia community will be fighting to support the Save the Internet Act every step of the way.”
“The last 15 years of an open Internet has seen a blossoming of independent media and journalism, and a boom in citizen participation in democracy,” said RootsAction co-founder Jeff Cohen. “That’s all threatened if we don’t save the Internet from the profiteers working hand-in-glove with Trump’s FCC.”
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