25,000 People Tell FCC to Put the Public First, Support Net Neutrality

What happens when some members of Congress don’t speak for the people they represent? We speak for ourselves.

At first, the numbers seemed daunting -- dozens of our lawmakers sold out their own constituents by urging the FCC to rethink its plans to adopt new Net Neutrality protections.

But the public has responded in a massive way – over the last two days, 25,000 people have signed a letter to the FCC in support of Net Neutrality and called out members of Congress for capitulating to phone and cable lobbyists. Thousands of these signers to today’s letter are from the congressional districts whose members went against their wishes last week.

Washington needs to know whom it really works for. The FCC is poised to take a giant step for the public interest. Tomorrow, the agency plans to announce a notice of proposed rulemaking that would make Net Neutrality a reality. The FCC’s action has received strong support from the White House, congressional leadership and nearly every consumer advocacy and public interest organization in the country. If the FCC succeeds, it would be a huge win for the millions of people who have fought so hard for Net Neutrality.

The big phone and cable companies have launched an all-out assault to stop this from happening, scrambling to prevent the FCC from even beginning to discuss a new rule. They've hired hundreds of lobbyists, spent tens of millions of dollars, and unleashed sleazy Astroturf groups to mislead politicians, distort the facts and resurrect long-debunked myths.

And some of their tactics are working on our lawmakers, who are now putting the interests of AT&T and Comcast ahead of ours. They were probably hoping we wouldn’t notice this deception. Well, we did… and we’re sending our own message to the FCC: Don’t listen to members of Congress who’ve sold out the public for AT&T. We demand an open Internet for generations to come.

Join the tens of thousands who are speaking out in support of FCC action this week, and the millions who have signed the petition for Net Neutrality.

Then make sure your representative hears from you about Net Neutrality. Here’s a list of the lawmakers who dropped the ball, and how you can reach them.

Free Press is a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. Free Press does not support or oppose any candidate for public office. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media and universal access to communications.