Press Release
SavetheInternet.com ‘Can-You-Hear-Us-Now-a-Thon’ Delivers 2 Million Petitions to FCC
Contact: Timothy Karr, 201-533-8838
WASHINGTON -- SavetheInternet.com Coalition allies and activists kicked off a marathon of petition deliveries at the Federal Communications Commission on Monday morning — with plans to drop off 50,000 signatures every hour until the public comment period closes on Tuesday. The more than 2 million petitions collected from across the country call on the FCC to stand up for real Net Neutrality and safeguard the open Internet. The FCC is scheduled to vote on its proposed Net Neutrality rules at its Dec. 21 open meeting.
“High-priced lobbyists for the phone and cable companies converge on the FCC every day,” said Misty Perez Truedson, associate outreach director of Free Press, which coordinates the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. “But we’re here now to remind Chairman Julius Genachowski and the rest of the Commission that the public is relying on them to keep powerful companies like Comcast and AT&T in check. President Obama and the FCC chairman pledged to protect the free and open Internet, and that’s a promise millions of Americans expect them to keep.”
The petitions will be delivered by local volunteers and representatives of the many groups that helped collect them, including Free Press, New America Foundation, Media Access Project, Future of Music Coalition, the Media and Democracy Coalition, Credo Action, the Progressive Campaign Change Committee, ColorofChange.org, Common Cause, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Prometheus Radio Project, the Harry Potter Alliance, the Open Source Democracy Foundation and Public Knowledge.
Updates, photos and video of the "Can-You-Hear-Us-Now-a-Thon" can be found on the Web at http://marathon.savetheinternet.com.
“The public won’t settle for almost Net Neutrality, half Net Neutrality or fake Net Neutrality,” Perez Truedson said. “They want real Net Neutrality. And real Net Neutrality means there is one Internet with one set of rules whether you get online at home or using a mobile phone; it means no special toll roads or fast lanes reserved for a few powerful corporations; it means no giant loopholes that would undermine the Internet’s level playing field. It’s not too late to fix these rules to ensure the free and open Internet will continue to thrive everywhere.”
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“High-priced lobbyists for the phone and cable companies converge on the FCC every day,” said Misty Perez Truedson, associate outreach director of Free Press, which coordinates the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. “But we’re here now to remind Chairman Julius Genachowski and the rest of the Commission that the public is relying on them to keep powerful companies like Comcast and AT&T in check. President Obama and the FCC chairman pledged to protect the free and open Internet, and that’s a promise millions of Americans expect them to keep.”
The petitions will be delivered by local volunteers and representatives of the many groups that helped collect them, including Free Press, New America Foundation, Media Access Project, Future of Music Coalition, the Media and Democracy Coalition, Credo Action, the Progressive Campaign Change Committee, ColorofChange.org, Common Cause, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Prometheus Radio Project, the Harry Potter Alliance, the Open Source Democracy Foundation and Public Knowledge.
Updates, photos and video of the "Can-You-Hear-Us-Now-a-Thon" can be found on the Web at http://marathon.savetheinternet.com.
“The public won’t settle for almost Net Neutrality, half Net Neutrality or fake Net Neutrality,” Perez Truedson said. “They want real Net Neutrality. And real Net Neutrality means there is one Internet with one set of rules whether you get online at home or using a mobile phone; it means no special toll roads or fast lanes reserved for a few powerful corporations; it means no giant loopholes that would undermine the Internet’s level playing field. It’s not too late to fix these rules to ensure the free and open Internet will continue to thrive everywhere.”
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