|
Dear Friend,
We could be just days away from a federal court decision THROWING OUT Ajit Pai’s repeal of net neutrality.
Ajit Pai, the former Verizon lawyer in charge of the FCC, violated the law in his rush to repeal net neutrality.1 Now a federal appeals court is about to rule on whether the repeal can remain in place despite Pai's failing to follow the law, or whether strong net neutrality protections will be reinstated.2
The court ruling on net neutrality is due to come down any day now, and Demand Progress is getting ready to launch an emergency campaign to defend net neutrality when the decision drops. Will you donate now?
Yes, I'll donate to help save net neutrality.
Here's the story: After the FCC voted to overturn the 2015 Open Internet Order, which ensures strong net neutrality, a group of open-internet defenders — including state attorneys general and tech companies — sued the FCC for failing to follow the law in its repeal. Specifically, Pai failed to take into consideration public safety, cherrypicked data, and abandoned the FCC's responsibility to oversee the broadband industry and protect consumers.3
In other words, not only was the repeal of net neutrality a total mess — it was illegal.
In February, net neutrality got its day in court. Pro-net neutrality lawyers highlighted how internet providers had used the repeal to throttle speeds and slow access, even for a fire department battling a massive wildfire.4 They showed how Pai and the other Republican FCC commissioners ignored evidence given by experts in overturning net neutrality.5 And the FCC ignored overwhelming public opposition to the repeal.6
In a few days, we could know the outcome of that case. If the court rules in favor of net neutrality, we need to make sure Congress doesn't do anything to weaken strong protections. If the court sides with Pai, we’ll need to ramp up our campaign to pass legislation that fully restores net neutrality. There are a lot of ways this case could go, and we have to be prepared for all of them.
This could be our best chance to save net neutrality. Will you donate today?
Thanks for standing with us.
Robert Cruickshank,
Demand Progress
Sources:
1. Multichannel, "Mozilla, Others: FCC Net Neutrality Reg Rollback Broke Law," August 20, 2018
2. The Verge, "What we learned from net neutrality’s big day in court," February 1, 2019
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Gizmodo, "FCC Faces Off in Net Neutrality Lawsuit Against Consumer Advocates and Internet Giants," February 2, 2019
6. Program for Public Consultation, "Overwhelming Bipartisan Public Opposition to Repealing Net Neutrality Persists," April 18, 2018
PAID FOR BY DEMAND PROGRESS (DemandProgress.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Join our online community on Facebook or Twitter.
You can unsubscribe from this list at any time.