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They're calling it net neutrality, but
it isn't.
| What the mainstream
media isn't reporting |
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Dear
Christian,
Today
President Obama's Federal Communications Commission betrayed the
fundamental principle of net neutrality and sold us out to AT&T,
Verizon and Comcast.
This is the
culmination of a long struggle, and it's important we discuss frankly what
led to this point. So this will be a longer e-mail than we traditionally
send, with some recommended action items at the end.
Despite what
you may have read in the headlines, the rules passed by the FCC today
amount to nothing more than a cynical ploy by Democrats to claim a victory
on net neutrality while actually caving on real protections for consumers.
Make no
mistake, AT&T lobbyists pre-approved this proposal, which means
consumers lost and Big Telecom won.
Net
neutrality is a principle that says that Internet users, not Internet
service providers (ISPs), should be in control. It ensures that Internet
service providers can't speed up, slow down, or block Web content based on
its source, ownership, or destination.
Yet today
the FCC, let by Obama-appointee Julius Genachowski and cheered on by the
White House, voted to adopt rules that will enshrine in federal
regulations for the first time the ability of AT&T, Comcast, Verizon
and other ISPs to discriminate between sources and types of content. And
despite the fact that there is only one Internet, the rules also largely
exempt cell phones and wireless devices from what meager protections the
rules afford.
It's no
exaggeration to say that this decision marks the beginning of the end for
the Internet as we know it.
Senator Al
Franken laid out what's at stake with this ruling, saying:
"The FCC's
action today is simply inadequate to protect consumers or preserve the
free and open Internet. I am particularly disappointed to learn that the
order will not specifically ban paid prioritization, allowing big
companies to pay for a fast lane on the Internet and abandoning the
foundation of net neutrality. The rule also contains almost no
protections for mobile broadband service, remaining silent on the
blocking of content, applications, and devices. Wireless technology is
the future of the Internet, and for many rural Minnesotans, it's often
the only choice for broadband."
So how did
we get here? Just two years ago, net neutrality advocates were heartened
by the election of a president who promised to defend net neutrality and
appoint an FCC Chair who would do the same.
Initially,
things looked good. After President Obama was inaugurated and after he
appointed Chairman Genachowski to head the FCC, we had what we thought
were three net neutrality supporters on the five-member commission and the
support of the president. It seemed reasonable, therefore, to support the
FCC in writing the net neutrality regulations that we needed.
But it was
the FCC's unwillingness to undo a Bush-era decision to deregulate
broadband Internet providers that demonstrated how weak the Obama
administration's support for net neutrality really was.
This
Bush-era decision classified broadband Internet providers outside of the
legal framework that traditionally applied to companies that offer two-way
communication services
After a
federal court ruled that unless the FCC reversed the Bush-era decision to
deregulate broadband the FCC couldn't enforce net neutrality rules,
Genachowski tested the waters with a proposal to reregulate (or in the
jargon of the FCC "reclassify") broadband. Genachowski himself said that,
according to the FCC General Counsel, pushing ahead with policies without
reregulating broadband would be unwise given the tenuous legal footing the
FCC would find itself in. In fact, Genachowski said:
"...continuing to pursue policies with respect
to broadband Internet access [without reclassifying broadband] has a
serious risk of failure in court. It would involve a protracted,
piecemeal approach to defending essential policy initiatives designed to
protect consumers, promote competition, extend broadband to all
Americans, pursue necessary public safety measures, and preserve the
free and open Internet. The concern is that this path would lead the
Commission straight back to its current uncertain situation-and years
will have passed without actually implementing the key policies needed
to improve broadband in America and enhance economic growth and broad
opportunity for all Americans."
But the
Chairman changed his tune after he unsurprisingly came under pressure from
the telecom giants.
>From
what we can gather, one of the decisive moments came when 74 Democrats
signed a letter to the FCC warning Genachowski not to reclassify
broadband. The letter, which was promoted by telecom lobbyists, cleverly
included language to support Congressional action to address the issue of
net neutrality. But given that Congress was demonstrably beholden to the
telecom lobbyists, and with the Republicans threatening the FCC outright,
the subtext was clear. No FCC action on reclassification meant no viable
chance to implement real net neutrality rules.
CREDO
aggressively acted to hold these Democrats accountable for their letter.
119,096 of us signed petitions. We held in district meetings at the
offices of 12 signers. But at that point it was too late. The damage had
been done.
Chairman
Genachowski was quickly cowed by political pressure and signaled an
unwillingness to reclassify broadband. And rather than trying to give us
net neutrality protections, he has instead sought to find a way of
cynically passing something he can claim is net neutrality, when it's
nothing of the sort.
We continued
to fight and over the course of our campaign we submitted 158,702 public
comments supporting real net neutrality. Our members made over 6,500 phone
calls to the FCC. And sent 65,911 faxes to liberal FCC Commissioner
Michael Copps in a last ditch attempt to get him to refuse to go along
with Genachowski on his fake net neutrality proposal.
In the end,
there is no way to paint this decision today as anything less than a
defeat for net neutrality advocates and for our democracy.
The process
demonstrated a breakdown in institutions of government that are supposed
to safeguard the public interest and implement the will of the people.
Here we have an example of a federal agency with the full power and
authority to fulfill its mandate and protect the public interest, caving
to nothing more than the withering stare of those they must regulate. The
president said he supported net neutrality. There was no Republican
filibuster holding us back. We simply needed the Chairman to propose real
net neutrality rules that would hold up in a court of law, and we needed
the three Democrats on the FCC to vote to pass them. It was that simple.
And yet we failed to make it happen.
The lack of
political will to confront the telecommunications giants effectively gave
these oligarchic interests a veto over the rules that govern their
behavior. In this way the narrow interests of a few powerful and wealthy
corporations were prioritized over the public good and the literally
millions of people who spoke out and demanded that the FCC protect our
free and open Internet.
This is a
clear example of industry capture of a regulatory body, and a damning
indictment of government institutions that are supposed to regulate — not
be run by — corporate interests.
Also let's
remember that a free and open Internet is an important part of 21st
Century democracy. By failing to protect it, this set of rulings is
similar to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that tilted the
realm of public discourse even more in favor of the wealthy and the
powerful.
We have to
be honest and share with you who have fought with us for real net
neutrality a frank assessment of what just happened at the FCC. There is
not right now a next step we can propose that will undo the damage that
was done today to the free and open Internet.
But we will
not simply lie down and give up. Here are four things you can do now to
fight the corporate interests that gave birth to this situation we find
ourselves in:
1) Read and
share this blog post by our friends at Progressive Campaign Change
Committee with three things everyone needs to know about Chairman
Genachowski's fake net neutrality rules. huffingtonpost.com/jason-rosenbaum/breaking-fcc-breaks-obama_b_799844.html
2) Tell the
FCC to at least oppose the increased consolidation of our media by
opposing the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal. Click
here to take action.
3) Harry
Reid's new chief of staff is a former telecom lobbyist and contributor to
Republican causes. Tell Reid to fire him. Click
here to take action.
4) Lastly,
one senator fought to the end — Sen. Al Franken. Click
here to join us in thanking him for standing up for net neutrality.
Thank
you for continuing to fight.
Matt
Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO
Action from Working Assets |
