Dear Friend,
Comcast just announced a data cap for all of its broadband internet
customers—unless they fork over another $30 a month.^1
The ISP giant is taking advantage of the millions of people who have begun
to work from home because of the coronavirus pandemic, and because Ajit
Pai’s FCC repealed net neutrality, we can’t stop Comcast from gouging us.
But soon, that could change.
President-elect Joe Biden can begin to undo Pai’s damage by appointing an
FCC chair and commissioners who will restore net neutrality. We’re putting
grassroots pressure on the new administration to make sure that happens.
[ [link removed] ]Will you donate to help ensure the Biden administration saves net
neutrality?
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The coronavirus pandemic has made one thing abundantly clear: the internet
is not a luxury, any more than electricity or clean drinking water are.
The internet kept people working, students learning, and families
connected when we were quarantined in our homes. It allowed us to share
critical medical information and continue to see doctors and get
groceries.
But the giant ISPs aren’t giving everyone the same access. AT&T, Comcast,
and other major ISPs are discriminating against not only people in rural
areas but also low-income city dwellers, according to several recent
studies.^2,3 68% of the country doesn’t have access to fiber internet.^4
42 million people across the country don’t have access to broadband
internet at all.^5
The ISPs are basically committing digital redlining by only installing
high-speed broadband in wealthier neighborhoods, causing a widening divide
where poorer neighborhoods can’t access remote education and work
opportunities like others can—all because FCC Chair Ajit Pai helped
destroy net neutrality and gave these billion-dollar corporations free
rein over our internet.
People in apartment buildings saw AT&T end DSL service but not replace it
with fiber or cable. Others in unincorporated parts of towns that back up
to neighborhoods with million-dollar houses can’t access the fiber those
neighborhoods get. They make up 12% of the country.
That’s why Demand Progress is leading a coalition of net neutrality groups
calling on Biden to appoint an FCC chair who will:
* immediately reinstate net neutrality and classify the internet as a
utility,
* abolish digital redlining and outlaw discrimination via broadband
access, including caps like Comcast's data caps, and
* incentivize the ISPs to finally fully deploy the 21st century networks
they’ve sat on for 15 years.
2021 is going to be the year we get net neutrality back. Will you donate
to help make it happen?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I’ll donate to help save net neutrality.
Thanks for standing with us.
Robert Cruickshank,
Demand Progress
[ [link removed] ]DONATE
Sources:
1. Ars Technica, "Comcast to enforce 1.2TB data cap in entire 39-state
territory in early 2021," [ [link removed] ]November 23, 2020
2. Cities, "Determinants of broadband access and affordability: An
analysis of a community survey on the digital divide," [ [link removed] ]September 9,
2020
3. Broadband Now, "Fiber-Optic Internet in the USA," [ [link removed] ]November 25, 2020
4. Ibid.
5. Bloomberg City Lab, "There Are Far More Americans Without Broadband
Access than Previously Thought," [ [link removed] ]February 19, 2020
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