Published: April 2016

A strong FCC preserves net neutrality

Consumer Action joined other consumer rights and privacy advocates in sending a letter to House of Representatives leadership expressing opposition to H.R. 2666, the “No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act.” This bill would strip the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of authority to review certain practices of broadband providers related to their customers’ privacy. Despite its name, the bill has much less to do with preventing the FCC from setting rates for broadband service than with preventing the FCC from investigating practices that may undermine the open Internet rules.

The “No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act” (H.R. 2666) prohibits the FCC from regulating broadband Internet rates, something the FCC has promised not to do. However, the bill is worded so vaguely that it could be interpreted to forbid the FCC from enforcing many key net neutrality principles. At best, H.R. 2666 is a poorly written bill that brings a host of unintended consequences. At worst, it’s a calculated attempt to undermine the net neutrality principles Consumer Action and coalition advocates have been fighting for.

Lead Organization

Public Knowledge

Other Organizations

18MillionRising.org | Alternate ROOTS | Arts & Democracy | Center for Media Justice (CMJ) Center for Rural Strategies Cogent Communications, Inc. | Color Of Change | Common Cause | Common Frequency | Consumer Action | Consumer Federation of America | Consumer Watchdog | Daily Kos | Demand Progress | Engine | Faithful Internet | Families for Freedom | Fight for the Future | Free Press Action Fund FREE! Families Rally for Emancipation and Empowerment | Future of Music Coalition | Generation Justice | Global Action Project (G.A.P.) | Greenlining Institute | Human Rights Defense Center | Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA) | Line Break Media | Martinez Street Women's Center | Media Action Center | Media Mobilizing Project | National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low-income clients National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) | New America's Open Technology Institute | Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition | Open Access Connections | People's Press Project | PhillyCAM | Progressive Technology Project | Prometheus Radio Project | Public Knowledge | School for Designing a Society | St. Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) | TURN | United Church of Christ, OC Inc. | Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center | Voices for Racial Justice | Women Action Media | Working Films | Working Narratives | Writers Guild of America, West

More Information

To view the coalition letter, click here.

For more information, please visit Public Knowledge.

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