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Comment to @FCC on #NetNeutrality

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Stuart O. Smith, Jr.
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Technology

Comment to @FCC on #NetNeutrality

The INITIAL public comment period to the FCC has been extended to Friday, July 18, 2014. If you have not submitted your comment yet, and it is before July 19th -- what are you waiting for?

If you are reading this blog after Friday, July 18th, then I recommend following the @FCC, @TomWheelerFCC, and @GigiBSohnFCC on Twitter, and watching the www.fcc.gov website for details. There will be opportunities for additional comments up to September 10, 2014, per...

 

Email to OpenInternet@fcc.gov

Here is the email I sent to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler(@TomWheelerFCC) regarding net neutrality on July 17, 2014. The FCC set up the special email address of OpenInternet@fcc.gov, which is what I used today. Americans can also submit comments to the FCC online for Proceeding 14-28 "Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet" at: http://www.fcc.gov/comments

 

 
From: Stuart O. Smith, Jr.
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2014 6:28:20 PM EDT
To: OpenInternet@fcc.gov
Subject: Please Support Net Neutrality
 
Dear Chairman Tom Wheeler:
 
Thank you for setting up this email address to hear from Americans about the important issue of net neutrality. I believe that the support of net neutrality is an important issue, and plan to send a paper copy of this email to President Barack Obama, my Senators (Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman) , and my Congresswoman (Marcia Fudge), with a note asking them to support you in taking action to have the Federal Communications Commission reclaim its authority to enforce net neutrality rules. It is my understanding that the courts have stated that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has the ability to reclassify Internet service providers as common carriers. Please make this happen, and use that authority to enforce net neutrality in the United States.
   
Net neutrality is important for many reasons, of which I know you are aware, but for the purpose of this official submittal to the FCC, I want to mention these three:
  • Entrepreneurship - I am from the Cleveland area, and hear a lot about the brain gain of new entrepreneurs in our region. If old, established businesses can buy faster access to consumers on the Internet, I am concerned that this will effectively cut out new entrepreneurs' ability to reach their customers. Blocking new business growth would be bad for our region and our country. I see on the FCC "What We Do" web page that that one of the purposes of the FCC is "Supporting the nation's economy by ensuring an appropriate competitive framework for the unfolding of the communications revolution" -- I believe that FCC support of net neutrality is the best way to support our nation's economy.
     
  • Free Speech - The Internet has historically enhanced our country's freedom of speech by giving more people access to share their views, and to hear the views of others. Without net neutrality, those that provide access to the Internet would have control over the speed at which these different views are seen on websites. As a blogger, and having blogger friends in our community, I support a system where our readers have equal access to what we write.
       
  • Double Dipping - As a consumer who pays an Internet service provider for access to the Internet, I don't think it is fair to make both the consumer pay for access, and also to make providers of content pay a premium to reach those consumers faster. What I pay should give me equal access to all Internet resources. It is well known that the citizens of the United States already pay more than citizens of other developed countries, and get slower speeds. It is my understanding that current Internet service providers are already making a massive profit, and are doing a very poor job of reinvesting to provide better service.
I look forward to this issue being resolved this fall after the public comment period. To be honest, I am very surprised that the FCC is even debating net neutrality. It seems to me that net neutrality should be something that the FCC would be pushing for all along. Please do the right thing for our country and make this happen. I will be sharing this letter and other resources in a blog post on my sosAssociates.com website. Any materials from the FCC or the politicians listed will also be shared in a blog post.
 
Thank you for your time and consideration.
 
Stuart
=========================
Stuart O. Smith, Jr., M.N.O.
 
Web SIG Cleveland Leader - www.WebSigCleveland.org
Blogging at: sosAssociates.com
Follow me at: Twitter.com/sos_jr

Confirmation email...

 

Thank you

Before looking at the tweets of resources, I want to mention the following, which will give a frame of reference for some of the tweets....

Tweets & Retweets

There has been so much information on both sides of the net neutrality issue that I recommend you go and find out more for yourself! On Twitter, be sure and see the #NetNeutrality hashtag.

What follows are the tweets and retweets that I have done since I started following this issue in early May 2014. I hope you find some of the listed resources useful, and find the debate on this issue interesting. As I wrote to Chairman Wheeler, I'm amazed that the issue of net neutrality is even being debated. To me there is no debate -- we must have net neutrality!

Please share any of these tweets that have information you find useful/interesting. Feel free to leave comments on this blog post below regarding this issue.

Comments

Submitted by Stuart Smith on Thu, 08/14/2014 - 22:00

Comment

Two updates to this blog post.

First, I am glad to report that Gigi B. Sohn, Special Counsel to the Chairman of the FCC for External Affairs, will be speaking in Cleveland!

She will be given the Broadband Hero Award at the OneCommunity annual meeting, and will deliver the keynote address. The event will take place on Wednesday, September 10, 2014, at 4:00 pm. RSVP by September 1st online here, and click here for more information about Gigi Sohn.

 

Secondly, as we approach September, here is some more information regarding comments to the @FCC regarding #NetNeutrality:

Twitter name
@sos_jr
Website
sosAssociates.com & WebSigCleveland.org
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