Dear Foundation Family,
There is a big decision by the Federal Communications Commission coming up regarding Net Neutrality, which could drastically impair our communities ability to use the Internet in all the ways that our communities currently use it -- whether to organize against water shut-offs, or promote Discotechs, or expose environmental racism.
AMP was asked to sign on to two different statements regarding Net Neutrality. We (The Foundation of Women in Hip Hop) signed on. The first statement is from a broad range of feminist groups articulating the negative impact that the end of Net Neutrality would have on women and girls. The second is a statement prepared by the National Hispanic Media Coalition in response to some of the comments that were filed in opposition to Net Neutrality.
Here is a primer on the issue for anyone who wants more background information.
Please review and reply with your thoughts! The deadline to sign on is Monday at 10am (Today).
(Originally from Jenny Lee)
Letter on Net Neutrality to Commissioners Clyburn & Rosenworcel
September 15, 2014
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St. SW
Washington, DC 20554
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St. SW
Washington, DC 20554
Dear Commissioners Clyburn and Rosenworcel:
As two key women leaders at the Federal Communications Commission, you have a unique role to play in decisions the agency makes about the future of Internet access.
We represent millions of women of color, white women and people of color around the country who believe that the open Internet plays an essential role in our lives – and we are asking you to protect Net Neutrality.
Millions of people – including so many women – have contacted the FCC about the issue. That outpouring of passion about the Internet and our media system is exciting, because it shows Americans truly care about the future of these vital communications platforms. Throughout the Open Internet rulemaking proceeding, we have been impressed by your leadership, your engagement with the public and your thoughtful consideration of the comments from so many of our constituents.
Now, we need your help to ensure that real Net Neutrality is the law of the land. Women and girls around the country are depending on you to help us make sure that the Internet remains a level playing field so we can express ourselves in our own voices without gatekeepers, increased fees, or Internet slowdowns getting in the way. We need an open Internet so that we can organize and connect for political action and civic engagement; access vital news and information that is not available in the mainstream, corporate media, and ensure that women-led small businesses, creative endeavors, and innovations can flourish.
Without Net Neutrality, women’s and girls’ voices online will be threatened and silenced. Already, our so-called “mainstream” media’s structural inequality continually leaves women and girls out. The Women’s Media Center’s consistently dismal findings about women’s representation in the media affirms this sad truth. Especially affected by these structural inequalities are women and girls of color, trans women, queer women, and indigenous women (to name a few), who are regularly attacked and objectified by major media when they’re not completely ignored and erased from our screens and speakers. Having rich white men in charge of media and media policy has only made major media richer, whiter, and full of men — shocker. Now they want to takeover the Internet. What could possibly go wrong?
In a word: everything. The Internet is one of the few places where independent media can thrive, providing a place for all women and girls to tell our stories in our words on our own terms, free from the censorship and control of media conglomerates. The FCC’s current proposal for new Open Internet rules would not only threaten Internet users’ free and easy access to independent voices and viewpoints. That proposal would also give ISPs power to control and censor women’s and girls’ speech online.
And the threat is twofold: we use the web to organize and to fight for change outside of it. The Internet allows us to spread messages farther than our feet could take us, make ideas louder than our voices can shout, and stand together on the same ground though we are miles apart. But our access to the Internet and these organizing tools comes from big cable and phone companies. In the fight for media justice, we cannot let the powerful interests that we fight against have authority over the tools we use to fight them. Silencing dissenting voices would be easier than ever — and legal — under these proposed rules.
This moment, right now, is crucial. Justice for women and girls in its many forms is dependent on the ability to share information, ideas, and experiences freely. That is why we are standing up for women and girls across the country. Please scrap the Chairman’s proposed rule and stand up for real Net Neutrality. We are depending on you.
Signed,
Women, Action & the Media (WAM!)
Adios Barbie
Bitch Media
Center for Media Justice
Common Cause
Crunk Feminist Collective
Everyday Feminism
Fem 2.0
Feminist Majority Foundation
Feminist Peace Network
Forward Together
Free Press
Hollaback
ImMEDIAte Justice
Know Your IX
Media Literacy Project
Media Equity Collaborative
NCWO Media & Technology Task Force
National Council of Women's Organizations
National Organization of Women (NOW)
New Moon For Girls
Our Bodies, Our Selves
RH/Reality Check
Role/Reboot
SheHeroes
She Writes
SisterSong
SPARKsummit
The Foundation of Women in Hip Hop
Third Wave Foundation
Trixie Films
Turning Anger Into Change
Ultraviolet
URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equality
Waves of Change (Deep Dish Network)
Women in Film and Video
Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press
Women in Media & News
Women’s Media Center
Open Internet: Voices for Internet Freedom Reply Comments
Below please find the core arguments that will be made in the Voices for Internet Freedom Reply Comments. Our hope is that providing a summary of our core arguments will allow you to sign onto our comments in advance of the deadline.
1. There is no evidence that utilizing Title II authority to establish strong open Internet rules will harm investment in broadband networks.
(a) Historically, Title II has not hampered investment.
(b) Title II is the only way to establish rules similar to the 2010 rules - which the DC Circuit recognized as being crucial to protecting the virtuous cycle of innovation that drives investment.
1. There is no evidence that suggests that strong Open Internet rules under Title II would slow broadband adoption by people of color.
2. There is overwhelming support in the record for mobile providers to be subject to the same rules as fixed providers. The FCC should take heed and abandon plans to refrain from applying rules equally to mobile ISPs.
