The pro-Title II net neutrality protest on Wednesday...
The pro-Title II net neutrality protest on Wednesday spurred 286,192 calls and 2.1 million emails to Congress, protest organizers said Thursday. Another 722,364 comments were sent to the FCC, a release said. The FCC did not comment about the number…
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of comments filed. The Internet Slowdown protest, in which icons with links to a site allowed people to send advocacy calls or emails, were placed on more than 1,000 websites and shared more than 1.1 million times on Facebook, the release said. Demand Progress, Engine Advocacy, Fight for the Future and the Free Press Action Fund organized the protest. “The FCC and Congress can no longer dismiss the overwhelming consensus of public support for real Net Neutrality protections,” Fight for the Future Campaign Director Evan Greer said in the release. More than two-thirds of Americans said Communications Act Title II laws written to regulate the phone industry are inadequate to address issues in the Internet age, in a poll by CALinnovates, a group that advocates a Section 706 approach to net neutrality. One in four said government policies can keep up with the pace of technological innovation on the Internet and the development of devices like smartphones, the group said in a news release Thursday. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed opposed paid prioritization, in which businesses can pay for “fast lanes,” the group said. Policymakers should listen “to Americans about the dangers of applying outdated laws to modern technology,” said CALInnovates Executive Director Mike Montgomery. “The FCC should be wary of applying so-called Title II regulations to broadband providers and potentially start-ups themselves. … The goal should be clear: policies that promote and protect a free and open Internet while at the same time ensuring that start-ups don’t face burdensome regulations that would put them at a disadvantage against established technology leaders.” The group’s members include executives at technology and startup firms, political leaders and entrepreneurs, the release said. Its partners include AT&T, according to the group’s website. The survey of more than 1,000 people was done Sept. 3 and 4, the release said. “Reclassification does not offer a clear way forward because it is legally tenuous, unduly burdensome and riddled with ambiguities that will take years to resolve,” the group said in reply comments it filed Thursday in FCC docket 14-28.