ADVISORY: Activists to Take to Streets Outside Washington Gala to Protest FCC Chairman Pai’s Plan to Gut Net Neutrality
WASHINGTON — On Thursday, Net Neutrality supporters will gather outside the annual “FCC Chairman’s Dinner” at the Washington Hilton Hotel to protest FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to dismantle Net Neutrality protections.
The action is part of the Dec. 7 day of protest where thousands of people will protest outside more than 600 Verizon stores in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. Other Dec. 7 protests will occur outside nearly 20 congressional in-district offices.
The Washington dinner, attended by phone and cable industry executives, lobbyists, lawyers and the press, is a “roast” honoring Chairman Pai who is moving to undermine the open internet and allow broadband companies to block access to websites, purposefully slow down internet speeds, or otherwise interfere with online traffic.
For more information on the national protests, visit: http://verizonprotests.com/
Pai, who has scheduled a Dec. 14 vote to gut the Net Neutrality protections, has close ties to Verizon, where he once worked as a lawyer. The telecommunications giant has spent millions of dollars on lobbyists, campaign contributions and think tanks to spread misinformation about Net Neutrality. Verizon representatives will also be present at the Hilton event.
WHAT: Chairman’s Dinner Protest for Net Neutrality
WHEN: Thurs., Dec. 7, at 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave. NW Washington, D.C.
WHO: For on-site interviews, contact Timothy Karr at tkarr@freepress.net and Craig Aaron at caaron@freepress.net.
“Killing the open Internet is no joke, and people will be loudly protesting while Ajit Pai yuks it up with industry lobbyists,” said Free Press Action Fund CEO and President Craig Aaron. “The public is outraged at Ajit Pai’s attack on Net Neutrality. The outcry from across the political spectrum has been deafening. Pai’s effort to ignore the overwhelming public support for Net Neutrality only isolates him further from the people he’s supposed to serve.”
In the two weeks since Chairman Pai scheduled a vote on his proposal to overturn internet-user protections, more than 750,000 people have used BattlefortheNet.com’s call tool to urge lawmakers in Washington to condemn the Pai’s plan to destroy Net Neutrality.
BattlefortheNet.com is a collaborative effort of Demand Progress, Fight for the Future and Free Press Action Fund. These organizations also run a massive grassroots-organizing initiative called Team Internet, which involves nearly half a million people who are willing to take their Net Neutrality activism from the internet to the streets. The coalition was instrumental in organizing millions of people across the United States in support of the FCC’s 2015 decision to ground Net Neutrality protections in Title II of the Communications Act.
