Social Justice and Civil Rights Groups Speak Out for Net Neutrality
By Jordan Berg Powers, January 14, 2010
For marginalized groups, the Internet is a powerful vehicle for equal opportunity and empowerment. It creates social change by allowing people to speak for themselves without having to convince large media companies that their voices are worthy of being heard.
That’s why civil rights groups and social justice organizations are standing up for Net Neutrality, the principle that protects the free flow of communications online. Over twenty-five organizations sent a letter today urging the FCC to adopt a strong Net Neutrality rule to protect the open Internet.
These organizations, including ColorofChange.org, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the National Association of Independent Latino Producers, get it: They know that Net Neutrality has created a level playing field where everyone has a voice and where groups can share information, coordinate their efforts and mobilize effectively for change.
The letter states:
-
Communities of color and other under-represented groups have long fought for a more diverse and inclusive media system. Discrimination and segregation prevented people of color from obtaining radio or TV licenses when these media were first created. Cable TV promised to be a real alternative for those seeking more diverse programming; it didn't happen that way. Now, many of these very same companies want to control the Internet by selecting the online content, applications and services that Internet users can access.
Read the entire letter and view the list of signatories.
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.
Jordan Berg Powers
Outreach Coordinator Jordan Berg conducts a variety of outreach, organizing and public education activities to broaden the movement for media reform. He also supports the planning and implementation of the National Conference for Media Reform. Prior to joining Free Press, Jordan was grants manager at Hope for Children in London, England. He holds a B.A. Read Jordan's full bio »
Comments
Need empowering, participatory Internet and media
We need the Web to remain open, neutral, democratic, and nondiscriminatory by allowing dissent and freedom of expression and speech to continue freely. We need and want ISPs to remain competitive, for more affordable access at faster speeds with no more bandwidth caps on legitimate uses, for ISPs to make the necessary upgrades to their networks to be able to accommodate more heavy usage by legit users, and for both a media system and an Internet that empowers participation and remains open and accessible so we can inspire peaceful, progressive and/or conservative, positive, successful, lasting change for the better. We need real journalism that helps serve our democracy and serve us as citizens. We need to reform our media and transform our democracy for the better. We need more diversity on the radio dial, more diverse points of view on television, more localism in radio and TV, more public broadcasting radio and TV stations, more independent low power fm radio stations, and most importantly for the Web to remain netural so we can inspire access to change. The Web should not become segregated like big telecom and cable company ISPs want but rather open so civil rights groups today can continue to utilize the Web to reach out to once disenfranchised minorities like www.colorofchange.org does for Black America giving political voice to African Americans. The U.S.A. before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was sadly segregated we cannot let the Internet to become segregated as well. There is in fact another article "An MLK Reminder: We Need Access to Inspire Change" on the SaveTheInternet blog worth reading here's the link: http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/10/01/19/mlk-reminder-we-need-access...