HOW TO DEFEND NET NEUTRALITY TODAY
8 min readNov 22, 2017
Spanish translation available here. Edited by Kristel Jax.
Almost everyone but internet providers support Net Neutrality, including Republicans and Democrats, so the really important question becomes — what are we to do to fight back? Here are some basic ideas on how you can start to plug into the national movement in America to fight against Big Telecom cutting the cord on the free and open net.
The American public has been fighting net neutrality for longer than many people want to keep up with, making some give up, and others even more angered because these telecom giants won’t stop after losing consecutively for fifteen years. AT&T, who benefits by rolling back Net Neutrality, stepped up on their influence on our legislators by outbidding all other tech giants with their lobby expenses at $4.47 million. We can’t allow this to happen and must organize for the long game — the FCC commissioners will vote in Republican majority board which is certain to disband Net Neutrality rule on December 14th. We will push back in courts, on phones, online, and in the legislative chambers. Join the fight today!
- Get the facts straight. Net Neutrality has bipartisan support and the majority of Americans want NN. (See polls: Mozilla and Time). Why would anyone support this anyways? It’s common sense considering NN would make the internet more difficult to access, make it more expensive, and give a lot of control to internet service providers (ISPs) regarding what content we see. The internet being in the hands of few wouldn’t just take away freedom, but could also be an instrument of class and race war, since, like wealth, both class and race are intertwined concepts that ultimately come down to access to services and networks. (See more: NYT) Internet and technology could thus be one more core aspect of driving inequality as many experts claim, which policies such as killing net neutrality with have large-scale consequences I will elaborate in the future — basically, once you get the facts, you can inform others, and start to become a trusted leader in your community surrounding fighting for NN. The concepts can be confusing for beginners, so it’s important for you to charge against an injustice enacted by wealthy bullies that many others will be affected by.
- Assemble a group of allies who are informed and passionate about this issue. By assembling people in physical space, you can get a wave of energy that allows for your group to become a catalyst for getting more work done than you could have ever imagined on your own. Successful movements often work with this principle of igniting “the whirlwind” and allowing that energy to push people to be brave enough to overcome fears of facing off against more powerful groups. People intuitively will want to come and help push the movement forward when they feel the power of fighting injustice with their whole heart. Often you can center the meeting on talking about the issues, so people can learn and digest together what is happening alongside a basic action like making phone calls to inform friends and family about the issue. Fighting for justice on your own can be very difficult and leave you feeling powerless — so try to find a group to be your support system. For your first meeting, you can contact your local representatives in congress who will be the first to vote on the upcoming bill, click here to contact them. I will list some potential actions below as well. Calling the FCC commissioners is likely to be a waste of time considering it is a Republican majority, Ajit Pai circulated the Restoring Internet Freedom document, while Brendan Carr and Mike O’Reilly made it pubic they will vote in favor as well. Even though this may be a partisan issue in the sense that 80% of voters think just as the UN that access to internet is a human right, Republican interests mixed with corporate backing has got us to where we are today. It’s rare for party loyalists to vote across party lines. However, contacting every potential enemy may not be the most success use of your time if you’re busy but contacting all the potential enemies together on a massive scale is sure to send a message the whole world is watching. The people that are in the way of ending net neutrality, you can contact are the FCC, your Internet Service Provider (like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T), the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and congress, expressing concern about Net Neutrality. If you call the CWA, who are the biggest source of power in the fight for net neutrality, tell them not to fight for net neutrality because they care about the open internet and because Verizon has a history of union busting.
- Create a working group from the dedicated base of supporters from your meetings. People tend to get very excited when the issues are in the public eye but the base of people who are going to drive a campaign must be willing to put in the time and energy longer term. You will notice that quickly the numbers can fade or be inconsistent but that there are people that always show up no matter what. These are the people are truly impacted by the issue and may one day be leaders of groups exactly as you are doing. It can sounds drab to be an activist on a weekend night or late after getting off work but this is incredibly transformative for anyone involved. A working group is the difference between a group of friends trying out activist and a group of dedicated activists getting ready for a real fight.
- Figure out who is on you side and who are going to lead the counter-protest. This is Strategy 101. Once you know who is going to join you in the fight, make a list with your group members, and start reaching out to find out others strategy, create shared events, and exchange important intel. This is very important after you have done the research because you can spend a lot of time going after people that have no influence on the outcome of your goal as we mentioned with contacting the FCC. Many posts online said to contact the FCC but they had obviously not done their research. Be careful as well what intel you’re sharing with new allies. Often with issues like Net Neutrality there are already developed networks ready to assemble local and national campaigns — with this said it may be more effective for you to join a preexisting organization. When you figure this out, you can start to hone in on who you need to pressure to make change happen. You don’t necessarily need to have the power base necessarily to create pressure yet — it’s better to just start to map out your strategy before you start to enact any kind of mobilization or action, an unplanned action can be the downfall of your whole effort. Some groups are targeting Verizon stores, Congress, the FCC, and the specific FCC commissioners. You can also call your ISPs to tell them you will switch your internet service to Credo if they don’t stop trying to kill NN.
- Contact every potential ally! Contact through phone, email, and text those who you know have been politically active before. You can extend your contact range outside of this once you start to feel comfortable talking about the issues and already have a group with you. You can get your closest friends and closer acquaintances or even co-workers or school peers involved. They will thank you in the end for allowing them to share a meaningful experience with you. This is a great way to connect with old friends, family, or make new connections.
- Build a Coalition. Once you assemble a working group, start to create linkages with other local and national groups, and if others are as dedicated as you are for getting this far — a movement will form from connecting all these groups from all corners of the country. Some of the biggest allies you will find are Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight For The Future, Battle For The Net, and my group, The Future Left. In the end, you need a movement who is ready to make the step to become an organization, and try to create a sustainable plan for changing the future — with this said, not knowing the best strategy or failing is never as hard when you know you’re building something bigger than yourself.
Note: These steps aren’t necessarily in chronological order. You may find it easier to start a working group and then This document is by no means complete. It was created to have others come together to help assemble this. Please email me at thefutureleft@gmail.com with any questions or comments.
THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
Not sure if you can start to organize your local area as the above article suggests? Here is a list of things everyone you know can start doing until you find that local group to organize or join. As far as I could find, this is the longest list of things you can do right now to fight net neutrality. Craig Aaron from Free Press suggest to do an “all of the above” approach, meaning do all that you can. Congress has already received 200,000 calls. Not only, 95% of comments of the 22 million comments by American citizens to the FCC were in support of Net Neutrality — here is the way to keep up the fight on your own end.
- Attend or organize Verizon Store Protest December 7th. Join our event in Los Angeles organized with Free Press, Battle For The Net, and Fight For The Future.
- Learn how to Phone Bank and organize a phone bank session to contact the FCC, your Internet Service Provider (like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T), the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and congress, expressing concern about Net Neutrality. You can submit a express filling to the FCC here and use the form on this page that comes up after you press “Tell The FCC To Protect Our Internet”.
- Participate in National ‘Save Net Neutrality Protest’ December 11th in Washington D.C.
- Donate to organizations that protect Net Neutrality such as Electronic Frontier Foundation, Save The Internet, or Fight For The Future.
- Visit a Town Hall you local politicians, learn how to ask hard questions on net neutrality here, and speak out!
- Join most recent petitions from the White House, Change.Org, the American Sustainable Business Council, Save The Internet, Voices For Internet Freedom, and Common Cause to protect Net Neutrality.
- Tech Workers Join The Tech Workers Coalition.
- Switch Over to Credo Mobile, help assemble a local Internet Co-op, and/or boycott Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast.
- Learn more about organizing through Paul Engler’s “Resistance Guide,” through 350.org, and Training for Change.
- Send a message to your senators, representatives, governor and the President with Resist Bot to tell them to fight to protect Net Neutrality. Congress can put a stop to the FCC vote on December 14th and it would be unlikely for the FCC to defy congress’s order.
