EMERGENCY: Help Protect Internet Freedom Against House Betrayal

Action Name: EMERGENCY: Help Protect Internet Freedom Against House Betrayal
Date: 2011-04-16 - 2011-05-31
Organization: Oregon PeaceWorks
Description: Crucial Action Request to Preserve an Open Internet

.....I thought this issue was critical: The Republican-dominated House of Representatives, not content with its attacks on Medicare, poor people, democracy and safe energy now wants to give the Internet away to big corporations. I'm forwarding this simple action request from Timothy Karr of the Free Press Action Fund and hope you'll act at once by clicking the action link.

Thank you,
Peter Bergel
Executive Director, Oregon PeaceWorks

Late last week, the House voted to block the Federal Communications Commission from protecting our right to access an open Internet.

If this measure, called a "resolution of disapproval," is approved by the Senate and the White House, the FCC would lose its authority to protect our free speech online. This comes at a time when phone and cable companies have begun limiting our ability to connect with others and share information.1

We can stop the resolution in the Senate by getting 51 members to stand with us.

Tell Your Senators: Defend Our Right to an Open Internet

President Obama has already vowed to veto this resolution, but let's make sure it doesn't get that far. Take action now to urge your senators to stop it in its tracks.

If we don't defeat this measure, the FCC will be barred from enforcing its already weak Net Neutrality rules, and from acting in any way to protect Internet users from corporate abuses by AT&T, Comcast and Verizon.

This is not a symbolic congressional exercise - it's a scorched-earth campaign that leaves Americans at the mercy of a corporate Internet cartel.2

Imagine if these companies could do anything they want, ban any speech they don't like, charge anything they can get away with, and hold innovation hostage to their profit margins. If this resolution passes, there's nothing anyone could do about it.

The resolution is filibuster-proof. We need at least 51 senators to beat it. Will your senators stand with us?

Sign this letter to demand that your Senators protect our Internet freedom. We will deliver it to their offices in Washington and provide you with tools to spread the word.

Thank you,

Timothy Karr
Campaign Director
Free Press Action Fund
www.freepress.net
www.SavetheInternet.com

1. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps outlined the recent history of "real threats" to Internet openness during his opening remarks Wednesday before the House Commerce Committee (pdf).

2. To learn more about the impact this would have on all Internet users, read Monday's Seattle Times editorial, "House GOP Sides with the 'Haves' on Net Neutrality."

Oregon PeaceWorks has been educating and activating people to
work for peace, justice and environmental sustainability since 1987.
104 Commercial St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-585-2767, info@oregonpeaceworks.org