Time to Speak Out Against the Plan to Destroy Net Neutrality

Even before John Oliver took to ranting about the necessity of net neutrality regulations, mobile app developers were passionate supporters of the open internet. We thought the fight for net neutrality was over after the unified outcry from various internet communities back in 2014, but then along came Trump and his new FCC chairman, former Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai. Now that Chairman Pai has unveiled his Restoring Internet Freedom draft proposal, it’s time to ban together again to save the internet we know and love.

Pai’s plan would remove the protections that keep ISPs from indulging in unfair practices like paid prioritization and content blocking. He has the support of the president and most Congressional Republicans, but it’s important that we show him that he does not have the support of the people. Now that the plan has been made public, the proposal is open to public comment. That’s where we come in. Although the FCC attributes it to an attack, Oliver’s diatribe appears to have crashed the FCC’s website (maybe it was the same attack that crashed their website when he spoke out in favor of net neutrality in 2014). Denver iPhone app developers are safe to assume that the vast majority of those incoming comments were against the FCC’s plan.

The enterprising folks at the Electronic Frontier Foundation have put together a tool called DearFCC that makes speaking out against the Restoring Internet Freedom plan surprisingly easy. App developers may remember DearFCC from back in 2014 when it helped give more than one million open internet supporters a voice the last time net neutrality was on the chopping block. Now they’ve relaunched the tool to assist in the new fight. As Oliver points out in his rant, if you have time to indulge in trolling the Pope on Twitter or giving the Grand Canyon a one-star review on Yelp, you have time to make your voice heard on this issue. And with DearFCC, there really is no excuse. Click here to give Chairman Pai a piece of your mind.