Rep. Polis Expresses Support for Net Neutrality

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) just clarified his stance on Net Neutrality.

Last week, Polis joined several dozen other representatives urging the FCC to reconsider rules on Net Neutrality. Shortly after the letter was released on Friday, the netroots blew up, furious that some Democratic lawmakers were adopting telco talking points in exact opposition to the public interest, President Obama’s agenda and the leadership in Congress.

This week, after a weekend of intense grassroots pressure, Polis offered clarity on his position, sending another letter to the FCC in support of Net Neutrality, and urging his colleagues to do the same.

In fact, just a day after the anti-Net Neutrality letter was released, Polis was writing at Daily Kos in an attempt to squelch the fires. His letter to the FCC today makes it clear that he’s advocating for an open Internet.

He writes:

We are writing in support of your initiation of a network neutrality rulemaking to assure baseline rules that allow consumers to access the lawful internet content of their choice, run applications and services of their choice, connect to their choice of legal devices, and ensure competition among network providers and content/service/application providers.

We further praise your efforts to include a non-discrimination principle that would prevent internet service providers (ISPs) from discriminating against any legal content or applications, and a transparency principle that would require ISPs to disclose their policies.

Polis’ comments didn’t go unnoticed by bloggers at FireDogLake, Daily Kos and SavetheInternet.com, where he and his colleagues were called out for forgetting whom they really work for.

In September, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski followed through on Obama's campaign pledge by announcing that the commission would make clear rules to protect Net Neutrality, the principle that stops Internet service providers from blocking and controlling online content.

On Thursday, the FCC will vote on a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish Net Neutrality rules, which is the first step in the regulatory process.

Polis’ letter is a testament to the power of the public. Over 1.6 million people have signed a petition in support of Net Neutrality, and those numbers can’t be ignored. This movement, coupled with the unrelenting pressure in the last few days, is helping to usher in a new era for a nondiscriminatory Net.

That’s one representative who got the message, but there are many more who need to hear it – on both sides of the aisle. Keep those fires lit. See if your Rep signed this letter, and then make sure they know you support Net Neutrality.

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