Do you think your Internet service provider should be able to prevent you from receiving e-mails like this if they don’t agree with the political message? What if you couldn’t access the news site of your choice because your broadband company cut an exclusive deal with Fox News?

Make a call today

Hundreds of CREDO Action members made calls yesterday — and we got their attention. Help us keep the pressure on by calling the FCC today.

A free and open Internet is an important part of 21st Century democracy. But without net neutrality protections, large communications companies will be empowered to dictate the content Internet users have access to.

Until very recently, the Federal Communications Commission under President Obama was poised to ensure consumers enjoyed the protection of strong net neutrality rules. Under those rules, Internet users, not Internet providers, could chose where they go, what they read and watch, and whom they connect to on the Internet.

But a recent court decision threw the legal underpinning of that effort into question, and it looks like the FCC might respond in the worst way possible — by giving up and selling out on net neutrality.

Can you take one minute to call the FCC and tell Chairman Genachowski not to cave on net neutrality? Click here for the number to call and a sample script.

On Monday, the Washington Post reported (citing three sources) that Chairman Genachowski “has indicated he wants to keep broadband services deregulated.”

This course of action would be a complete abdication of responsibility on the part of the FCC. The FCC has a duty to ensure that big corporations don’t discriminate when it comes to the ability of Americans to access information over the Internet. In fact, the FCC is empowered by Congress to do just this.

All the FCC needs to do is reverse a Bush-era decision to deregulate the Internet, which has handed too much power over the Internet to companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon.

It was the Bush-era FCC that made this mistake in the first place, so it’s entirely within the power of the Obama administration’s FCC to do what’s necessary to make things right.

Tell Chairman Genachowski not to cave on net neutrality. The FCC must stand up for consumers, not bow down in the face of pressure from the giant corporations. Click here for the number to call and a sample script.

What’s especially troubling about this news is that just last Wednesday, Chairman Genachowski (who has historically been a supporter of net neutrality) professed his “unwavering commitment to ensuring that the free and open Internet is preserved and protected.”

However, that’s entirely incompatible with leaving broadband deregulated.

Whether it’s Enron or Countrywide, we’ve seen what happens when deregulation allows corporate America to run amok.

The government has a role in ensuring that the Internet remains the same vibrant, open environment that has allowed it to become such an important part of how we participate in our democracy. Throwing in the towel and caving on net neutrality would do irreparable harm and fundamentally change how the Internet is run. We simply can’t let that happen.

Call the FCC and tell Chairman Genachowski not to cave on net neutrality. Click here for the number to call and a sample script.

Thank you for working to preserve a free and open Internet.

Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets