WASHINGTON — Momentum for a day of action to protect the open Internet is growing as prominent tech companies and organizations have announced that they will join the Sept. 10 Web protest. The protest event builds on the millions of Americans who have already urged Washington to support real Net Neutrality protections and prevent broadband providers from blocking or discriminating against online content and services.
"The cause of Net Neutrality is important to us as a business,” said
reddit General Manager Erik Martin. “It's important to our visitors, and it's important for our democracy. We’re proud to take part in the Internet Slowdown and encourage others to join with us.”
"The free and open Internet has been central to the economy and to global free expression," said
Automattic/WordPress General Counsel Paul Sieminski. "Everyone has to step up now and do everything they can to protect it. We're proud to do our part and to participate in the day of action alongside so many industry leaders and citizens."
Dozens of participating companies and organizations — and thousands of websites — will display a spinning icon representing a slow-loading Internet on their websites. These symbolic icons, which won't actually slow down the Internet, will link to a series of actions at
www.battleforthenet.com/sept10th.
Some of the companies and websites that have announced their participation in the day of action include Automattic (which runs WordPress.com), Boing Boing, Cheezburger, Chess.com, CREDO Mobile, Digg, Dwolla, Etsy, Fark, Foursquare, Gandi, General Assembly, iFixit, imgur, Kickstarter, Meetup, Mozilla, Namecheap,
The Nation, Netflix, reddit, SendGrid, Thunderclap, Twilio, Upworthy, Urban Dictionary, and Vimeo.
Participating advocacy organizations include the American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, the Center for Media Justice, ColorOfChange, DailyKos, Demand Progress, Democracy for America, Democrats.com, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Engine Advocacy, Fight for the Future, the Free Press Action Fund, the Future of Music Coalition, Greenpeace USA, the Harry Potter Alliance, the Media Alliance, the Media Mobilizing Project, MoveOn, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, OpenMedia, Popular Resistance, Presente.org, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Progressives United, the Other 98%, RootsAction, Rootstrikers, the Sierra Club, SumOfUs, Voqal, Women, Action & the Media, the Writers Guild of America, East, and the Writers Guild of America, West.
People can take action by urging the Federal Communications Commission and members of Congress to support strong Net Neutrality rules. The participating companies and organizations oppose FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal that would let broadband providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon discriminate and stifle innovation by favoring content from well-funded companies while slowing access to all other websites and services.
Demand Progress, Engine Advocacy, Fight for the Future and the Free Press Action Fund have organized the Internet Slowdown.
“The cable companies have millions of dollars, but our side will prevail because we have millions of people,” said
Demand Progress Executive Director David Segal. “More Americans have already spoken out in support of Net Neutrality than around any other cause that has ever been before the FCC, and our growing coalition will continue to fight for an open Internet until it has been secured.”
"More than 99 percent of the comments the FCC has received support Net Neutrality. The public’s opinion could not be more clear — we don’t want discrimination on the Internet, period,” said
Evan Greer of Fight for the Future. "If the FCC chooses to move ahead with its current proposal in the face of this overwhelming outcry, it will be more clear than ever that this government agency has lost all legitimacy, and works for only the interest of the 1 percent CEOs of cable companies, and not the public good."
"The FCC has succeeded at one thing: uniting an unprecedented coalition of public interest groups, innovative companies and millions of everyday Internet users against its slow-lane scheme," said
Free Press Action Fund President and CEO Craig Aaron. "We need our leaders to stand up to the cabal of cable and phone giants that have called the shots in Washington for too long. September 10 is the day to stand with Internet users everywhere and demand real Net Neutrality."
"With more and more companies joining in the September 10 day of action, the startup community is letting the FCC know how important Net Neutrality is to the future of the Internet and the economy,” said
Engine Advocacy Policy Director Evan Engstrom. “ If the FCC fails to preserve the Net Neutrality rules that have been the norm in this country for most of the Internet’s existence, the continued viability of the United States’ robust technology sector will be in jeopardy. The FCC must reclassify broadband as a Title II service if it wants an Internet without slow lanes and fast lanes."
"CREDO stands with the companies and citizens who oppose the FCC's plan to allow big telecom to slow down the Internet,” said
CREDO Mobile Vice President Becky Bond. "As a mobile phone company and longtime advocate for civil liberties, we say no to the corporate interests that want to profit by discriminating on the Internet."
By John Donovan
