If you’ve been following the net neutrality news lately, you likely know that tomorrow will mark a historic turning point in the ongoing debate: for the first time, the FCC will convene a rulemaking to specifically address the issue of net neutrality. Of course, the opponents of net neutrality aren’t going down without a fight. They’ve been pulling out all the stops lately: lobbying members of Congress, spreading Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt and even pressuring employees and their families to go on the anti-net neutrality offensive. In so doing, the big telcos had hoped to suppress the debate surrounding the FCC’s proposed rules before those rules were even announced. Instead, their “shock and awe” campaign backfired, triggering an incredible response from civil rights groups, corporate CEOs, venture capital firms, the public interest community and just about anyone else you can think of who has a stake in the Internet remaining free and open. The last few days have brought an avalanche of letters asking Congress and the Commission to protect the most valuable platform that we have for innovation, civic discourse and education. We’ve collected links to some of these letters after the break and will continue to update this list as more letters are published:
- Internet company CEOs/Digerati letter to the FCC
- Internet Pioneers letter to the FCC
- Media and Democracy Coalition and civil rights groups letter to the FCC
- Public Interest letter to FCC
- Venture capitalists letter to the FCC
- Media and Democracy Coalition letter to Congressional Democrats
- National Organization for Women letter to the FCC
- Representative Jared Polis’ letter to the FCC
- National Gay and Lesbian Task Force letter to the FCC
- EDUCAUSE, Internet2 and ACUTA letter to the FCC
- National Hispanic Media Coalition letter to Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
- National Hispanic Media Coalition letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee
- National Association of Hispanic Journalists letter to the FCC
- ColorOfChange.org letter to the FCC
- Media Alliance letter to the FCC
- Letter from 30 online journalists
- Letter from 10 U.S. Senators to the FCC
- Letter from Congressman Edward Markey and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo to the FCC
- Senator Rockefeller and Congressman Waxman letter to the FCC
- Academic researchers’ letter to the FCC