The US and the EU are on the verge of giving rich corporations the right to control what we all see on the Internet. It’s the apocalypse of the Internet as we know it. But free speech advocates and web companies are fighting back. Click to join the largest call for a democratic and free Internet ever:

The richest 1% could now control what we all see on the Internet forever. It’s the apocalypse of the Internet as we know it, and will erase the democratic promise of an information highway for everyone the founders of the world wide web imagined.
Together, our community has built on that vision, using the web to fight corruption, save lives, and bring people-powered aid to countries in crisis. But the US and the EU are on the verge of giving the richest corporations the right to show content fast, while paywalling or slowing down everything else. Avaaz’s ability to show the world citizen journalist footage from Syria, or run campaigns to save our planet is under threat!
Decisions on both sides of the Atlantic are being made now. But tech innovators, free speech advocates and the best web companies are fighting back. If millions of us join them now we can create the largest call for a democratic and free Internet ever. Sign up now and tell everyone:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/internet_apocalypse_loc/?biEWLbb&v=34949
Until now, any improvements in the speed and functioning of the Internet benefited all of us — if Rupert Murdoch’s ultra-conservative Fox News got a faster way to stream videos, it also benefitted independent media showing reality on the ground in Ukraine, Syria, or Palestine. Politicians called this “net neutrality” and laws protecting it used to exist in the United States until a court just struck them down. Now, the EU Parliament is threatening to pass regulation that give ISPs the right to carve up the web and control what we see, by slowing down or charging for sites that don’t pay.
But we can stop this. First, we will show up with massive global numbers into this week’s public meeting in the United States to decide whether to reinstate Internet protections. Then we will unleash a high powered lobby team to target the EU Parliament to ensure its committees listen to the public. This will be the big first step we need to win these important battles over the next few months.
Web providers like Verizon and Vodafone are lobbying hard for an Internet for the rich. And without a massive response from citizens, they could win, and put our whole community’s work at risk. Most of our Internet is located in the US and the EU so this affects us all. We don’t have any time to lose. Click below to join now:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/internet_apocalypse_loc/?biEWLbb&v=34949
When our community was less than half of the size it is now, we rallied and helped kill the ACTA treaty and stopped massive Internet censorship laws SOPA/PIPA. Today, we are more powerful than ever. Let’s now join together and ensure that what connects us all stays open. With hope, Pascal, Emma, Dalia, Luis, Emilie, Luca, Sayeeda and the whole Avaaz team SOURCES:
On dangers of non-Network Neutrality (ABC news): http://abcnews.go.com/Business/major-ways-internet-change-net-neutrality/story?id=21541399 Save the Internet http://savetheinternet.eu/en/
EU telecoms market reforms threaten net neutrality and privacy (Wired) http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-11/19/eu-telecoms-reform-concerns
Federal court strikes down FCC net neutrality rules (The Verge) http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/14/5307650/federal-court-strikes-down-net-neutrality-rules
Summary of BEREC positions on net neutrality (BEREC) http://berec.europa.eu/files/document_register_store/2012/12/BoR_(12)_146_Summary_of_BEREC_positions_on_net_neutrality2.pdf

By  CAP Action War Room

If It’s The Most Offensive Name In Professional Sports, Quite A Bit

A team that is not playing in this weekend’s Super Bowl has increasingly found itself in the news for something unrelated to football. Over the last year, the Washington Redskins ownership has come under intensifying pressure from high-profile individuals, including its own players and the President of the United States, who say that it should change the team’s name.

Today, our colleague Travis Waldron at ThinkProgress Sports has published an exhaustive history of the controversy, and uncovered a new twist in emails he exclusively obtained: Dan Snyder, the unpopular owner of the Redskins who vowed that he will “never change the name,” is getting advice from several high-profile Republican advisers on how to defend against the growing public outrage with a team name that is a racial slur. These advisers include Frank Luntz, the GOP pollster; Ari Fleischer, who served as White House press secretary under George W. Bush; and George Allen, the former governor of Virginia.

In addition to revealing the names of this all-star team of Republican communicators, the emails indicate the group’s dismissive attitude toward any concern over the issue. Bruce Allen, George Allen’s brother and the team’s general manager, called Waldron’s questions “ignorant” and “insulting,” and Fleischer responded, “not [sic] need to answer any more questions or waste any more time with this outfit.”

It remains to be seen how this latest chapter in the growing controversy will affect the Redskins team. But to get up to speed, check out this timeline going back to last February and then head over to Waldron’s longread:

BONUS: The National Congress of American Indians is using the venue of the Super Bowl to air a moving Public Service Announcement to raise awareness and gain support for the campaign to change the name of the Washington Redskins.