@fightfortheftr (April 19, 2018): There have been a lot of inaccurate reports that the FCC’s repeal of #NetNeutrality will officially go into effect next week on April 23rd. That’s not true. It’s a bit more complicated than that. Ready? Here we go:
Its understandable many journos are confused by this. It’s legitimately confusing. The FCC order said it would go into effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, which would have been April 23rd. But, it still has to be approved by the Office of Management & Budget.
There was another FCC filing in the Federal Register that would imply the earliest the OMB could approve this (and its worth noting that approval is basically just a technicality) is actually April 27th, but its likely to happen some time after that, possibly even weeks after.
The most important thing for EVERYONE to understand is that nothing catastrophic or dramatic is going to happen immediately when the FCC rules go into effect. Telecom shills will immediately start saying “See? The sky didn’t fall, we never needed #NetNeutrality.“
They’re lying.
The ISPs aren’t going to immediately start blocking content or rolling out paid prioritization scams. They know Congress and the public are watching them. Rather, the death of #NetNeutrality will be slow and insidious. You might not even notice it at first.
And that’s the worst part. What will happen is over time ISP scams and abuses will become more commonplace and more accepted. They’ll roll out new schemes that appear good on their face but undermine the free market of ideas by allowing ISPs to pick winners and losers.
Over time we’ll see less awesome startups. Less awesome videos. Less diverse online content. And we’ll see more content that our ISPs want us to see. The Internet will be watered down and manipulated. It will change forever in ways that harm our democracy.
But it will take time.
So: don’t fall for ISP lobbyists talking points. They’re ALREADY claiming that #NetNeutrality was never needed since the sky hasn’t fallen, and the rules haven’t even gone into effect. But also don’t panic. The Internet is not going to die next week. Keep calm and keep fighting.
The Senate will vote in a matter of weeks on a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to block the FCC’s repeal. Now is the moment to get engaged.
If you live in a state shaded in red, tell your officials to get their freaking shit together and help support the CRA for #NetNeutrality. If you don’t live in a state shaded in red, help those people. Call, Message, Text, something!
You can still use resistbot to fight for net neutrality! The post made saying it was being confused for spam was FALSE!
Yeah that was my misinformed post and I definitely didn’t expect it to blow up the way it did (up until last week I had like 25 followers). Use Resistbot to contact your reps, but if you’re going to contact the FCC, use phone calls as they are not taking any of the emails they receive into consideration anymore. For your reps, use Resistbot, but be aware that actually calling does have a bigger impact.
On December 14th, the vote to repeal Net Neutrality will take place. Unless we do something to stop it or to change this or change the minds of those voting, we will lose Net Neutrality. We’re dealing with corporations attempting to monopolize the Internet.
We have 12 days before we lose the Internet and enter an era of loss.
We have 12 days before the inevitable repeal is put in place, and as time continues to go on, we’re losing opportunities to stop it. The FCC no longer recognizes emails and other online petitions. There have been too many bots, and, as such, have decided to essentially ignore anything that has to do with online support for net neutrality. If you want to make a change, you’re going to have to make direct contact—write a letter or call your representatives.
We have 12 days before the Digital Age may fall, and if it doesn’t completely collapse, then it will surely be wounded. We’re risking an end to the entire age of information that the Internet has sparked, between censorship and unfairly high payment and god knows what else could be implemented once they have control.
We have 12 days before the free and open Internet perishes. We have 12 days to do anything in our power to prevent this, but time is running it and so are ways to deal with it. We cannot sit idly by and wait or let others do the work for us; we cannot hope for the best without taking action of our own; we cannot rely on everyone else to put these changes into place when everyone else is in that same mindset.
We have 12 days before they vote to put their plans into place. ISPs can and will charge you extra for certain sites, slow streaming services, and block websites altogether.
As someone who dreams to have work in the creation of content, this is the most horrifying outcome—and I’m far from being the only one who thinks that. The Internet is where artists of all kind flock and may be sheltered, where they can show their work. This is how they can put their name into the world, this is how they can become known, this is how they can accomplish their goals, but all of that will be ripped away. All of this hangs in the balance, and we’re still far from tipping the scales in our favor.
Of course, anyone reading this may think I’m just being overdramatic, but we’re talking about a practically immeasurable scale of negative change. You may say we just need to pay the price for the new Internet and move on with our lives, but how? Some people are lucky enough to have access as it is, but that will change. Censorship and blocking will run rampant, and it won’t be stopped, not when the people who issued this censorship are the ones in charge. Creative minds, even those with the financial stability to be able to keep up with the permanently changed online world, will still face constant challenges and limits in the content they will be putting into the world. But these effects will only dig deeper and deeper. Members of the LGBT+ community will no longer find the platforms of massive support they once found on the free Internet; relationships, friendships, connections of all kinds built in the online world will be severed and lost; the spread for social causes and fights against injustice will be diminished; an entire community will die. Education will be effected, business will be effected, day-to-day lives will be effected, the way we receive information will be effected, the way we connect to each other in the constantly advancing world will be effected, everyone will be effected.
We have 12 days to act before we lose it all, and I’ll be damned if I stand aside and watch it happen. Spread the word, call your representatives, write as many letters as you can muster, do everything in your power to fight back. We cannot be suppressed, we cannot let all that we’ve made go to waste. We cannot let minds full of beauty and groups of love wither away. We cannot let free knowledge become hidden and costly. We cannot let ourselves be limited by the corrupt, especially on such a large scale. We cannot let them have this advantage against us. We cannot wait, because the time for waiting is over. We take action now or we lose, we all lose. Fight for Net Neutrality.
We have 12 days before we’re too late. Don’t let it be too late.
https://resistbot.io/ <—Free and easy way to contact your reps. Your letters will be emailed, faxed, mailed, or, in some instances, hand delivered to your Congress members. I’ve gotten a handful of responses from one of my Senators because of this app and it is very empowering to see a copy of the letter you wrote followed by a text that says ‘delivered.’ Democracy in action. Do it.
Reblogging for this; most online forms of contact are being ignored by the FCC, but Resistbot is sent to state representatives, who DO see and often even directly respond. Use this as a tool in this fight. Anyone who knows any other methods of reaching representatives, please add to this.
Some additional information to add to this:
https://resistbot.io/will, in fact, work for reaching state representatives. There has been information going around that it will not, but this is false. However, it is true that resistbot will no longer reach the FCC, who has marked it as spam.
Currently, three people stand in the way of Net Neutrality: Ajit Pai, Brendan Carr, and Mike O’Rielly. These three are the members of the FCC who are in favor of the repeal. As it stands, Ajit Pai is completely immobile from being swayed from the repeal—Carr and O’Rielly, however, can still be persuaded. Their emails are below:
Ajit Pai: ajit.pai@fcc.gov
Brendan Carr: brendan.carr@fcc.gov
Mike O’Rielly: mike.oreilly@fcc.gov
Remember: insults and threats will not help. There’s already been plenty of that and it’s not gone well. Instead, you’re going to need to spam their emails—politeness, civility, but no begging or pleading. State why you want Net Neutrality and do not back down.
We have to keep this fight going by any means necessary.
Just in case direct emails will still be ignored, I believe this is where you can send physical letter to:
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554
Guys this is so important, flooding them with letters might be the only way to make them reconsider.
Aries: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Taurus: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Gemini: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Cancer: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Leo: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Virgo: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Libra: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Scorpio: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Sagittarius: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Capricorn: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Aquarius: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants. Pisces: Government representatives that actually represent what their constituents want and not their own personal wants.
If you haven’t heard already, the fcc has admitted to not caring about the 22 million emails they’ve received unless they were in ‘legal terms’ meaning unless you talked like a lawyer who specializes in this specific category, they ignored your email. It doesn’t look like they plan on changing their mind, no matter what we do.
As hopeless as that sounds, we might still have a way to fight back. I’ve heard a few states are trying to make Internet access a state provided utility like electricity and water. If that happens, companies like Verizon would take massive blows. Spread the word, if we can convince our local governments to make internet a state provided utility, it would help not only to sway the votes, but help preserve the Internet in general.
I’m posting this on multiple fandoms because the net neutrality tag gets censored. Remember, without net neutrality your fandom will be completely destroyed.
🔥 With your help, we passed Title II net neutrality protections. Now we need to defend it.🔥
On December 14 the FCC will vote on Commissioner Pai’s plan to repeal Title II rules. This week he tried to justify that decision with a “myth busting” explainer where he makes a lot of sweeping claims he doesn’t think you’ll fact check.
So let’s go through his big points:
❌ Mr. Pai claims ISPs won’t block access or throttle content
These are the real facts. Before Title II, the internet was so “free and open” that…
AT&T blocked Skype from iPhones (Fortune) and, later, wanted FaceTime users to pay for a more expensive plan (Freepress).
MetroPCS blocked all streaming video except YouTube (Wired).
In today’s media market where the same huge companies make and deliver content, Commissioner Pai wants us to trust that corporations won’t use their dominance to bury competitive content or services.
❌ Mr. Pai claims Title II keeps ISPs from building new networks
Here’s another claim Commissioner Pai doesn’t want you to fact check, but:
AT&T’s own CEO told investors that the company would deploy more fiber optic networks in 2016 than 2015 when the FCC passed Title II protections (Investor call transcript).
Charter’s CEO said “Title II, it didn’t really hurt us; it hasn’t hurt us” (Ars Technica).
And Comcast actually increased investment in their network by 10% in Q1 of this year (Ars).
❌ Mr. Pai claims repealing Title II won’t hurt competition
As we mentioned above, ISPs tried to interfere with the services their customers could access and courts had to step in to stop them.
The FCC tried to craft net neutrality rules in 2010 called the Open Internet Order but the ISPs sued and won. The courts told the FCC that the only way to guarantee a free and open internet was using their Title II authority. Without those protections, any of these things would be legal:
Your ISP launches a streaming video service and starts throttling other streaming services until they’re unusable.
Your phone company cuts a deal with a popular music streaming service so it doesn’t count towards your data cap but lowers your overall data limit. If a better service comes along (or your favorite artist releases new tracks somewhere else) you can’t use it without incurring huge data fees.
A billionaire buys your ISP and blocks access to news sites that challenge their ideology.
Repealing Title II would be like letting a car company own the roads and banning a competitor from the highways.
❌ Mr. Pai claims there won’t be fast lanes and slow lanes
Let’s break this down: We won’t have fast lanes and slow lanes, we’ll have “priority access” and…non-priority access? Well gosh.
🚨 Please help us protect Title II one more time! 🚨
This week we co-signed a letter with more than 300 other companies—businesses Mr. Pai gleefully ignores—urging the FCC to retain the Title II internet protections. Now we need you.
Go to 👉 Battle For The Net 👈 to start a call with your representatives in Congress. Tell them to publicly support Title II protections.
The FCC votes on December 14.
We’re only powerful when we work together.
Oh, also: that post about automatically unfollowing the #net neutrality tag—it’s not true. It’s really not. That’s not who we are. Whatever happened, we haven’t been able to reproduce it. We tried. A lot.
But if it were true—which it’s not, we feel compelled to say again—THAT’S EXACTLY WHY YOU SHOULD CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES and demand a free, open, and neutral internet.
-MAKE SURE YOUR STILL FOLLOWING THE TAG, TUMBLR IS APART OF THE GROUP
THAT WANT TO OWN THE INTERNET AND IS MAKING PEOPLE UNFOLLOW THE TAG.
-THEY ARE CLEARING THE TAG EVERY DAY OR SO, I SEE POSTS WITH 5K+ NOTES THAT DON’T SHOW UP ANY MORE IN THE TAG. EVEN WITH THE MOST POPULAR SETTING ON IT.
-WHEN YOU EMAIL THE FCC PLEASE DON’T BE RUDE, NO ONE WANTS TO LISTEN TO RUDE PEOPLE
Please email them today & share the contact info:
Ajit Pai – Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov
Mike O’Rielly – Mike.ORielly@fcc.gov
Brendan Carr – Brendan.Carr@fcc.gov
Threats and insults won’t help.
CALLING WILL BE MUCH, MUCH, MORE EFFECTIVE!
THEY HAVE BEGUN TO IGNORE RESIST-BOT AND ANYTHING THAT ATOMICALLY SEND THE EMAILS FOR YOU!!
‼️✔️Call 1-202-418-1000 Voicemail of the FCC and say you oppose the
repeal of net neutrality. It took 12 seconds. Please copy and
share.✔️‼️✊
-TELL YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY BECAUSE THIS WILL EFFECT THEM TOO!!
-THIS WILL HURT THE ECONOMY!
-EDUCATION WILL TAKE A BRUTAL HIT, COLLEGE STUDENTS CAN HARDLY PAY THEIR RENT, ADD ON EXTRA EXPENSES LIKE THIS AND SAY GOODBYE TO BETTER EDUCATION!
-KILL THOUSANDS OF JOBS!
-AND PEOPLE, THEY WONT BE ABLE TO ACCESS GO-FUND-ME’S IN ORDER TO HELP PAY FOR THEIR MEDICATION!
-AND TAKE AWAY APART OF OUR FREE SPEECH!!!!
–If we lose net neutrality BOYCOTT ALL THE COMPANIES THAT ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF US!
-BOYCOTT NOW ACTUALLY, GO A HEAD AND CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE BIG COMPANIES AND WHEN YOU DO MAKE SURE TO SAY “I no longer want services from a provider that wants to take over the internet, end countless jobs, and ruin countless lives.”
Candlelight-magick 