The FCC can’t wait any longer to protect consumers
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Google and Verizon just jointly announced a proposed policy framework for net neutrality, and it’s worse than we expected.
The Google-Verizon plan would end the Internet as we know it. Right now there is only one Internet that treats everybody and all content equally. But the proposal would change all of that. And insidiously, it would effectively dismantle net neutrality while claiming to protect it.
Still, the fact of the matter is that it’s not Google’s place to write regulations — that’s the job of the FCC, which has failed to act quickly to protect American consumers.
Our friends at MoveOn described the Google-Verizon proposal well when they said it would “create two separate, unequal sections of the Internet — one for big business that would be high-speed and exclusive, and then the inferior, slow ‘public Internet’ that would be available to you and me.”
While it was unexpected that Google, formerly an advocate of net neutrality, would associate itself with such a bad policy, it’s not surprising that the proposal shortchanges the interests of consumers and the public at large. This proposal is just the latest example of giant corporations trying to write the very regulations that govern their behavior.
Frankly, it’s just another indication that the FCC has waited too long to put appropriate protections in place for Internet consumers.
Earlier this year, the FCC looked like it was on track to ensure we could all enjoy strong net neutrality provisions. But a federal lawsuit forced the FCC to change its plans.
The FCC can still enforce net neutrality, but it first must revisit a Bush-era decision to deregulate broadband. By revisiting this decision and reclassifying broadband, the FCC can do everything it needs to do to protect American consumers. And in fact, the Chair of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, announced his intentions to do this.
But he has backed away from this plan under intense pressure from telecommunications industry.
Our federal regulators need to stop caving to big business and take a stand for us. The FCC has all the tools it needs to protect our interests and ensure the Internet remains a vital engine of information exchange and innovation, but it seems to lack the political will to live up to its mandate.
CREDO is working with our allies at MoveOn, PCCC, Free Press and ColorOfChange.org to put pressure on Google, the White House and the FCC. This is a crucial moment for our campaign. And your actions will be part of a broader effort to stop the FCC, Congress and the White House from standing by idly while we let corporations destroy the Internet.
We should not let BP decide the legislative framework for offshore drilling. We cannot let Goldman Sachs decide who chairs the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. And we must not let Google or Verizon decide how we can use the Internet.
Speak up and sign our petition to the FCC today. Just click here to automatically add your name. Thank you for working for a better world.
Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
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