Press Release
FCC Faces Tough Questions over the Future of the Internet
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
WASHINGTON - The SavetheInternet.com Coalition, a broad, grassroots alliance of groups fighting for a free and open Internet, today urged a key House committee to ask tough questions of the Federal Communications Commission, as Congress considers rewriting the laws that will shape the future of communications in America.
All five FCC Commissioners will testify at an oversight hearing on Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, chaired by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). At the top of the agenda will be Net Neutrality -- the rules that ensure big phone and cable companies can't discriminate against Internet content and services based on their source, ownership or destination.
"It's time for a real public conversation about what the future of the Internet should look like," said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, which coordinates the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. "If FCC Chairman Kevin Martin doesn't understand why we need Net Neutrality or can't answer for why the United States continues to fall behind the rest of the world in broadband, then Congress needs to step in with proactive legislation that will ensure a faster, affordable and accessible Internet for everyone."
Cable and telephone companies spent more that $175 million last year to persuade Congress to permanently eliminate Net Neutrality protections -- but their lobbying couldn't overcome widespread public support for the nondiscrimination rules that enabled the Internet to become an unprecedented vehicle for free speech and economic innovation.
"The Internet as we know it is a platform for free speech and artistic expression because of the fact that it has operated neutrally from the very beginning," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president and CEO of Media Access Project. "I hope that the committee will press Chairman Martin on why he wants to change what has worked so well so far."
Last December, AT&T agreed to respect Net Neutrality for two years as a condition of their merger with BellSouth, discrediting claims that Net Neutrality cannot be defined or enacted as policy.
"AT&T didn't have to agree to the Net Neutrality terms, but it did," said Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. "The rest of the industry, and the FCC, should accept the reality that AT&T's conduct will be good for the country."
SavetheInternet.com has organized 20 "in-district" meetings - held over the past month in congressional offices from Shoreline, Wash., to Palm Harbor, Fla., from Providence, R.I., to Bakersfield, Calif. -- where hundreds of activists urged their elected representatives and senators to support Net Neutrality in the 110th Congress.
"There is enormous grassroots energy across the country for preserving the Internet as a level playing field, and the FCC needs to be responsive," said Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org Civic Action. "Small businesses, community organizations and families that rely on a free and open Internet are threatened by corporations that want to control which Web sites people can access."
The "in-district" meetings continue the grassroots momentum that saw Net Neutrality supporters deliver SavetheInternet.com petitions in 26 cities nationwide last August, urging senators to support a free and open Internet. More than 1.5 million people have signed the petition at SavetheInternet.com.
"Will the new Congress meet the challenge tomorrow to help guide FCC Chairman Kevin Martin away from the special-interest policies favored by his predecessor and toward those that will help all Americans achieve a universal broadband future with a free and open Internet?" said Amina Fazlullah, U.S. PIRG staff attorney. "That's the important question."
All five FCC Commissioners will testify at an oversight hearing on Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, chaired by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). At the top of the agenda will be Net Neutrality -- the rules that ensure big phone and cable companies can't discriminate against Internet content and services based on their source, ownership or destination.
"It's time for a real public conversation about what the future of the Internet should look like," said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, which coordinates the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. "If FCC Chairman Kevin Martin doesn't understand why we need Net Neutrality or can't answer for why the United States continues to fall behind the rest of the world in broadband, then Congress needs to step in with proactive legislation that will ensure a faster, affordable and accessible Internet for everyone."
Cable and telephone companies spent more that $175 million last year to persuade Congress to permanently eliminate Net Neutrality protections -- but their lobbying couldn't overcome widespread public support for the nondiscrimination rules that enabled the Internet to become an unprecedented vehicle for free speech and economic innovation.
"The Internet as we know it is a platform for free speech and artistic expression because of the fact that it has operated neutrally from the very beginning," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president and CEO of Media Access Project. "I hope that the committee will press Chairman Martin on why he wants to change what has worked so well so far."
Last December, AT&T agreed to respect Net Neutrality for two years as a condition of their merger with BellSouth, discrediting claims that Net Neutrality cannot be defined or enacted as policy.
"AT&T didn't have to agree to the Net Neutrality terms, but it did," said Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. "The rest of the industry, and the FCC, should accept the reality that AT&T's conduct will be good for the country."
SavetheInternet.com has organized 20 "in-district" meetings - held over the past month in congressional offices from Shoreline, Wash., to Palm Harbor, Fla., from Providence, R.I., to Bakersfield, Calif. -- where hundreds of activists urged their elected representatives and senators to support Net Neutrality in the 110th Congress.
"There is enormous grassroots energy across the country for preserving the Internet as a level playing field, and the FCC needs to be responsive," said Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org Civic Action. "Small businesses, community organizations and families that rely on a free and open Internet are threatened by corporations that want to control which Web sites people can access."
The "in-district" meetings continue the grassroots momentum that saw Net Neutrality supporters deliver SavetheInternet.com petitions in 26 cities nationwide last August, urging senators to support a free and open Internet. More than 1.5 million people have signed the petition at SavetheInternet.com.
"Will the new Congress meet the challenge tomorrow to help guide FCC Chairman Kevin Martin away from the special-interest policies favored by his predecessor and toward those that will help all Americans achieve a universal broadband future with a free and open Internet?" said Amina Fazlullah, U.S. PIRG staff attorney. "That's the important question."
