Repost - Fight for the Future! Net Neutrality Affects Us All.

If you use the internet, read/send emails, have a website, use social media, read online articles, research, look at pictures online - if you do any of that - this affects you. If the net stopped being neutral most of the small businesses based on a website would be starved out.

Hey,

I just wanted to make sure you saw this email? There's good news! Thanks in part to the response we helped generate, the FCC has extended the deadline to receive comments about Comcast's attempted internet takeover until October 29th.

50,000 people have taken action already. The FCC will be surprised by this kind of response to a merger question, but the deck is stacked against us so we need to go all out. Can we count on you to help us get to 100,000 comments by the end of this week?
Click here to submit a comment to the FCC opposing the Comcast merger that would dismantle Internet freedom.

Read the email below for more background, and please forward this to your friends and family. It affects all of us!

Sincerely,
-Tiffiniy from FFTF

Dear Fight for the Future member,

Urgent: there are just a few days left to stop Comcast from taking over Time Warner Cable and signing a death sentence for net neutrality. Click here to take action now.

This one really requires no explanation. The most hated company in the US is trying to take over the second most hated company in the US, in a move that would raise our cable and Internet bills, stifle online free speech, and make them one of the most powerful lobbies in history. [1]

This merger is bad for EVERYONE, and there is tons of opposition, even from within the FCC. We have a real chance at stopping this but we have to act quickly. [2]

The deadline is next week! Click here to stop Comcast in its tracks.

Comcast is already the largest and most powerful opponent of net neutrality, online privacy, and Internet freedom. They’ve been caught several times abusing their “gatekeeper” power as an Internet provider to further their own interests. [3] If the FCC lets Comcast forcibly absorb Time Warner Cable -- the second largest Internet provider in the U.S. -- they will control access to information in nearly 6 of 10 people’s homes (more if you're only counting truly high speed Internet). [4]

Millions of you have sent comments to the FCC in support of net neutrality. We’re asking for your help again because if this merger goes through, Comcast gets even more powerful -- in the marketplace, online, and in Washington, DC. If we don’t stop this takeover right now, we'll be fighting an uphill battle on net neutrality and online free speech for years to come.

Will you sign? Click here to submit a comment opposing the Comcast merger.After you sign, please forward this email to everyone you know and share the petition on social media.

Here’s the link one last time: http://www.battleforthenet.com/comcast?org=fff 

Thanks for all that you do,

-Tiffiniy Cheng

Fight for the Future

SOURCES:

1. Brad Reed. "Massive survey finds Comcast and TWC are the two most hated companies in America – period". BGR.http://bgr.com/2014/05/20/comcast-twc-customer-satisfaction-survey-study/
2. Brendan Sasso. “FCC Chief: Cable Companies Are Wrong About Internet Competition”. National Journal.http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/fcc-chief-comcast-is-wrong-about-internet-competition-20140904
3. Cecilia Kang. “Comcast, Time Warner Cable merger faces a grilling in Washington this week”. Washington Post.http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/04/08/comcast-time-warner-cable-merger-faces-a-grilling-in-washington-this-week/
4. S. Derek Turner and Matt Wood. “Petition to deny free press”. Free Press.http://www.freepress.net/sites/default/files/resources/Free%20Press_14-57_Petition%20to%20Deny_Final.pdf

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Net Neutrality - Submit your Comments to the FCC

Friends-

I just submitted a comment to the Federal Communications Commission in support of Net Neutrality. We only have a few hours left to stand up for Net Neutrality before the FCC's current comment period closes.

The important email below is from the groups behind the new Battle for the Net website -- it explains how you can take action too.

Please read on and join me in taking a stand!

Just a few hours to go. That’s how long we have to get pro-Net Neutrality comments submitted to the FCC in front of their first comment period deadline — and save the Internet from the clutches of Comcast, Time Warner, and their ilk.

Let’s make our power clear, by submitting more comments than the FCC’s ever seen before.

Click here to visit our brand new website and send the FCC a formal comment demanding support for Net Neutrality. It’ll only take a minute:

https://www.battleforthenet.com

We're in a battle to for the Internet as we know it. Net Neutrality guarantees all websites — start-ups, blogs, independent media — an even playing field. It’s essentially the First Amendment of the Internet.

But the cable companies want to gut Net Neutrality to increase their profits: Without Net Neutrality, those corporations can kill websites by relegating them to slow lanes if they don’t pay fees — or if they just don’t like the content they contain.

Many of you have already signed petitions to the FCC or President Obama — and so have literally millions of others. That’s incredible — and it’s had a huge impact. But now we all need to go one step further and submit formal comments into the FCC’s Net Neutrality proceeding.

It’s really quick and easy, and carries way more weight than the usual petition signature does. You’ll be a formal part of the process.

Click here to submit a formal comment to the FCC before the end of this comment period — it’s over TODAY:

https://www.battleforthenet.com

Originally the FCC was poised to undermine Net Neutrality all together. Because we all pushed back, now they’re considering adopting rules that would save it.

But they’ll only do so if we speak out again, even louder.

We can make a huge statement: We have a chance of submitting more comments than the FCC has ever received on an issue before.

The cable companies have millions of dollars and armies of lobbyists and public relations firms -- and since they own so much of the communications infrastructure, it's especially easy for them to push their propaganda.

But we have millions of people on our side — and our only chance of beating the cable companies is if we all take a stand, together.

Click here to visit our brand new website and send the FCC a formal comment demanding support for Net Neutrality. It’ll only take a minute:

https://www.battleforthenet.com

Thanks!

Senator Marco Rubio's Letter Regarding Net Neutrality

Dear Ms. Tick,

Thank you for contacting me to express your thoughts on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) attempts to regulate the  Internet,commonly referred to as "net neutrality." I appreciate hearing from you.

Since its inception, the Internet has flourished with minimal government involvement and has revolutionized our ability to communicate and conduct commerce. As an engine of economic growth, it has provided businesses with the ability to compete in the global marketplace. Continued development of the Internet and modern telecommunications, free of government interference, is integral to American innovation.

However, in 2010, the FCC adopted its "Open Internet Order," which would establish federal regulations governing network management practices for broadband Internet service providers. Fortunately, a U.S. appeals court for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down the order citing the Commission's prior decision to classify broadband as an information service. The Communications Act expressly prohibits the FCC from regulating broadband providers under this classification. 

In an effort to circumvent the appeals court decision, on May 15, 2014, the FCC approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) aimed at adopting new rules to replace those struck down by the appeals court. The NPRM also seeks public comment on whether the agency should reclassify broadband as a communications utility under Title II of the Communications Act. The uncertain and misguided authority that comes with reclassifying broadband must be addressed by Congress, not by five unelected bureaucrats at the FCC. That is why updating the outdated Communications Act, which passed in 1996, should be a top priority and would provide clarity to the FCC's role in the modern communications landscape.

If we've learned anything about the Internet over the years, it's the enormous power it has to give people economic opportunity. Please know, as a member of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, I remain committed to ensuring the Internet remains free of burdensome regulations. Thank you again for contacting me with your concerns.  

Sincerely,

Marco Rubio
United States Senator 

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Response from Senator Bill Nelson regarding Net Neutrality

Thank you for contacting me regarding net neutrality.  I share your concern for a fair and open Internet.        On April 30, I sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler asking him to take steps to ensure that the Internet remains open and accessible to all users and content providers.  Specifically, I asked Chairman Wheeler to avoid a framework in the FCC's proposed Open Internet Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would allow some content providers to sign “paid prioritization" or "fast lane" agreements with Internet Service Providers (ISPs).  This approach could upset the basic concept of an open Internet by creating a "two-tier" system of access that would be very difficult to remedy in the future.        I also asked Chairman Wheeler to carefully consider the current legal framework for ISPs, and seek additional comment on whether it would be beneficial to reclassify ISPs as telecommunications common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act, instead of their current deregulated treatment under section 706 of the Communications Act.        I have a long history of fighting for a free and open Internet and remain committed to this goal.  Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue, and please do not hesitate to contact me in the future.                                      Sincerely,                                    Bill Nelson   P.S. From time to time, I compile electronic news briefs highlighting key issues and hot topics of particular importance to Floridians.  If you'd like to receive these e-briefs, visit my Web site and sign up for them at http://billnelson.senate.gov/news/ebriefs.cfm