Save Net Neutrality

Senator Chuck Schumer at Wired: Senate Democrats Have a Plan to Save Net Neutrality.

Last Thursday, the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission formally published a rule reversing long-standing and vital protections of the internet known as net neutrality. The FCC's new rule would let big corporations restrict how consumers access their favorite websites by forcing them to buy internet access in packages, paying more for "premium" service, as with cable television.

This would be a radical departure from the intended nature of the internet, whose inventors last year cited its openness and neutrality as one of the foremost reasons to reject the FCC's "fundamentally flawed" plan.

Not all is lost, however. Whenever an agency publishes a new rule in the Federal Register, it sets in motion a countdown clock of 60 legislative days for Congress to overturn it.

That means that now is the moment to #SavetheInternet.

Senate Democrats are proposing to undo the FCC's wrongheaded rule through a process set up by the Congressional Review Act. Unlike most legislation, which must be put on the floor by the majority party and often requires 60 votes in order to move forward, a CRA can be passed with the support of just 51 senators...

All 49 senators in the Democratic caucus are united in support of our CRA to stop the FCC from destroying the free and open internet. We also have the backing of senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, who has pledged to vote with us.

That leaves just one more vote to ensure the internet remains free and accessible to all.

That vote must come from the ranks of the Republicans, who so far have sided with internet service providers, the only group that is clamoring to remove the important consumer protections enshrined in net neutrality.

...I urge every person who's reading this to contact the Senate Republicans who have not yet pledged to vote for it. (This should be easy since that's practically all of them, minus senator Susan Collins.)

There are 58 legislative days left to #SavetheInternet. The clock is ticking. Make your voice heard.

MAKE YOUR CALLS. #RESIST.

If you need to find your senator(s)'s contact information, here you go!