Break The Net' Protest Planned Before FCC Decision On Net Neutrality

[Len]

The United States Federal Communications Commission is poised to vote on a rule change that would roll back net neutrality protections and opponents of the proposal are making one last-ditch effort to voice their opinions.

The FCC will vote on the rules changes on Wednesday, Dec. 13 during the agency’s December 2017 Open Commission Meeting. On Tuesday, Dec. 12, activists will flood the internet with content about the looming vote as part of a Break the Internet protest .

The protest is being organized by Battle for the Net , a nonprofit organization that has been on the forefront of the fight to keep in place the current net neutrality rules that were first passed in 2015 under the Obama administration.

Instead of protesting in physical locations, like the protests that cropped up at Verizon stores around the country earlier this week, the Break the Internet protest will take place entirely online. Hundreds of platforms will place banners and other markers on their services drawing user attention to the issue of net neutrality.

Confirmed participants for the protest include Reddit, Patreon, Imgur, BitTorrent, GitHub and PornHub. Internet users are encouraged to place a net neutrality widget or banner on their site for the day. The add-ons encourage visitors to the site to take action, including calling Congress in an effort to stop the FCC’s vote, scheduled for the next day.

Users can also use Fight for the Future’s tools to set automated posts supporting net neutrality to be made through their social media accounts over the course of Dec. 12.

The net neutrality protections that the group aims to protect were first proposed by former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and passed with a 3-2 majority in 2015. The rules reclassified broadband internet providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. By reclassifying the companies, it provided the FCC with the legal levers to ensure ISPs and mobile internet carriers don’t infringe upon net neutrality principles.

Net neutrality is a concept that requires all data on the internet to be treated as equal. In order to uphold that principle, net neutrality institutes three bright line rules that state internet service providers cannot block content, slow or throttle internet connections, or provide favorable service for a fee through paid prioritization.

Current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump, voted against the decision to reclassify ISPs as common carriers in 2015. Under his leadership, the FCC will now vote to repeal the classification. Doing so will classify ISPs as information services under Title I of the Communications Act.

The move is opposed by a large portion of American citizens. A poll conducted by Mozilla and Ipsos earlier this year found 76 percent of all Americans support net neutrality, including 81 percent of Democrats and 73 percent of Republicans.

The FCC’s proposed rule change drew more than 21.7 million comments , the majority of which opposed the change—though many of the comments were discovered to be automated or submitted with form letter responses.