Net Neutrality NOW

Hello dear readers.

Yesterday I wrote a this week's post and planned to proof-read and post it this morning. But then I learned that the deadline for Net Neutrality comments is only a few days away. We all have until Sept 15 to make our voices heard on this issue. So, today's post is dedicated to Net Neutrality and what you can do about it.

First of all, what is this whole issue? Rather than try to explain it to you, I'll allow those who have already done it brilliantly to do it for me.

Vi Hart Explains Net Neutrality

Hank vs Hank arguing Net Neutrality

John Oliver on Last Week Tonight

Are you worried yet?

So, what can you do about it? Tell congress how you feel about it.

The "official" place to comment online is here, but after about 10 seconds you'll probably give up. You have to figure out which proceeding to comment on and they don't (as far as I can figure out) give you any more information than the title of that proceeding. Oh, here's a nice helpful hint from the site: "If the proceeding you are looking for is not listed, you can go to ECFS and enter the proceeding number." You have the proceeding number memorized right? Of course, they they have very little incentive to make the comment procedure user friendly. Don't fret though, I did some digging and figured it out for you. You want to comment on proceeding 14-28 "Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet."

If that's still too much for you to deal with or if you need a pre-written form letter to help out, a few savvy folks have made it easier for you. Here are two places you can go submit a comment and they will make sure it ends up in the right place:

Battle for the Internet

The EFF

And, here's the comment I wrote on the FCC page on proceeding 14-28. Feel free to steal some/all of it for your comments:
"Maintaining the open internet is important to me because an an entrepreneur I am concerned about my ability to compete with well established companies who are able to pay for the "fast lane" service. Additionally, ISPs provide a service that is very similar to other common carriers and they should not be able to act as gatekeepers, deciding what content is delivered promptly to their customers. ISPs should be classified as common carriers in order to prevent them from discriminating against users or content creators, and allow the open internet that we all built together to continue to thrive."

We have 4 days left. Go forth and comment. Even better, make actual phone calls too. Then post about it on ALL your social media sites to spread the word.

TDE Out!