Net Neutrality: Big Internet Companies to Conduct Protest on July 12
Major internet companies have agreed to conduct a "day of action" to block the proposal of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate the net neutrality policies in the United States.
According to The Washington Post, Kickstarter, Etsy, Amazon and Mozilla will launch an online campaign on Wednesday, July 12, to protest against the plan to change the current net neutrality rules in the country.
While the companies have yet to decide which form of protest they will take during their planned protest, campaign director Evan Greer told The Register that they will make sure that they will "display a prominent message" that could feature "simple tools to allow people to contact lawmakers and the FCC."
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Greer also said that they will let the public know their plan to allow online communities to join and help them look for ways to let the lawmakers know that they do not agree with the FCC's proposal.
The upcoming protest of several internet companies stems from the proposal of FCC chairman Ajit Pai under the agency's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) where he wants to revoke the current utility-style internet regulation that was allowed under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 that took effect during the Obama administration.
According to Pai, net neutrality caused domestic broadband capital expenditures to significantly decline by 5.6 percent from 2014 up to 2016, which falls under the first two years of the Title II effectivity.
He added that even the smaller internet service providers (ISP) are complaining about the investment pullback. This is why he has proposed to revoke the rules on net neutrality to allow ISPs to have better incentives so they can provide better service to the country.
Pai's proposal was supported by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson from Wisconsin, saying that net neutrality is just a "slogan."
"What you really want is an expansion of high-speed broadband, and in order to do that you have to create the incentives for those smaller ISPs to invest. They don't really control their own fiber if the government tells them exactly how they're going to use their investment," the senator said in an interview with WTMJ Radio.
More details about the internet companies' plans for protest are expected to be announced in the coming days.
