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February 2015 Status: @FCC and #NetNeutrality

Blog Date
Author(s)
Stuart O. Smith, Jr.
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Technology


February 2015 Status: @FCC and #NetNeutrality

Having heard at the end of January 2015 that Federal Communications Commission (@FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler (@TomWheelerFCC) had planned on using the February 26, 2015, FCC Open Commission Meeting to vote on the issue of net neutrality, I decided that now was the time to write a third blog post on this issue.

 


My plan was to share the following tweets that I had saved after my September 2014, Take Action! @FCC and #NetNeutrality blog post, and to remind the chairman and other politicians of the millions of people who wrote comments last September. I figured it was time to take action again before the final vote on at the February 26, 2015, FCC Open Commission Meetings, but (read on after the September 2014 tweets below)....

 

Tweets I saved from September 2014


...my theme for this blog post took a major unexpected turn on February 4, 2015, when I read the following on Twitter:

While these announcements are encouraging, we, the citizens who care about this issue, need to continue to watch and learn more as this evolves in the coming days. As I mentioned in my first two blog posts, "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." Now is your final chance to let the FCC and your representatives know how you feel about this issue.

Please contact Chairman Tom Wheeler (@TomWheelerFCC) and the other FCC commissioners [Mignon Clyburn (@MClyburnFCC), Jessica Rosenworcel (@JRosenworcel), Ajit Pai (@AjitPaiFCC), Michael O’Rielly (@mikeofcc)] to thank them for moving toward supporting net neutrality, and give them your support.

Please also take action and let your elected officials know that you expect them to actively support net neutrality. Here is the direct link with helpful information from the "Take Action - Contact Your Representative" section of my Take Action! @FCC and #NetNeutrality blog post.

Also, here is a link to the section of my blog post which includes the letters from my representatives. If it is not clear where your representative stands on the issue of net neutrality, please send them a letter or email, or call tell them how you expect them to represent you.

In my first blog post entitled Comment to @FCC on #NetNeutrality, from July 2014, I provide some talking points you might find useful.

I was fortunate to briefly talk to FCC Special Counsel for External Affairs, GiGi B. Sohn (@GigiBSohnFCC) and hear her presentation when she was in Cleveland for the OneCommunity (@OneCommunity) annual meeting. She indicated that the Federal Communications Commission was in good hands and would be doing some creative things to make things better for Americans. (See the "Gigi B. Sohn - 'The Art of the Possible'" section of my OneCommunity 2014 Annual Meeting blog post.)

The February 4, 2015, announcement by Chairman Tom Wheeler, and the expected outcome of the February 26, 2015, FCC Open Commission Meeting is in line with this positive vision for the future under the current leadership.

JUST ANNOUNCED....

As I was finishing this post, I learned about the following:

Join me at the Town Hall on February 6, 2015!