Google, Amazon and 80,000 websites are protesting against the FCC's plans to reverse net neutrality
Source: cnbc
More than 80,000 websites are taking part in an online protest against the FCC's plans to roll back net neutrality rules.
Facebook, Amazon and Google are among those participating.
Websites will display a message urging people to send a letter to the FCC.
Arjun Kharpal | @ArjunKharpal
7 Hours AgoCNBC.com
More than 80,000 websites including giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Google, are taking part in an online protest on Wednesday against the U.S. telecoms regulator's plan to roll back net neutrality rules.
Under the Barack Obama administration in 2015, rules were put in place that meant internet service providers (ISPs) such as Comcast, Charter, and AT&T, had to treat all internet content equally. Essentially these ISPs are not allowed to block content or speed up or slow down data from certain websites.
This principle of net neutrality came under threat in May after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is headed up by Ajit Pai who was appointed by President Donald Trump, voted to reverse rules put in place under Obama.
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But internet companies have been vocal in their opposition to Pai's plans. That's why on Wednesday, many of these services are planning an online protest called the "Day of Action". Among the companies taking part are Twitter, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Reddit, Netflix, Airbnb, and Spotify....................................
Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/video/2017/07/12/google-amazon-and-80000-websites-are-protesting-against-the-fccs-plans-to-reverse-net-neutrality.html
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Net neutrality
Ajit Pai: the man who could destroy the open internet
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/12/ajit-pai-fcc-net-neutrality-open-internet
The FCC chairman leading net neutrality rollback is a former Verizon employee and whose views on regulation echo those of broadband companies
Ajit Pai on Capitol Hill in Washington.
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Ajit Pai on Capitol Hill in Washington. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Olivia Solon in San Francisco
Wednesday 12 July 2017 07.42 EDT
Last modified on Wednesday 12 July 2017 10.50 EDT
Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has a reputation as a nice guy who remembers co-workers’ birthdays and their children’s names.
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This is the man who could destroy the open internet.
Pai, a 44-year-old Republican attorney, is spearheading the Trump administration’s regulatory rollback of net neutrality protections.
Net neutrality, which some have described as the “first amendment of the internet”, is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) treat everyone’s data equally – whether that’s an email from your mother, an episode of House of Cards on Netflix or a bank transfer. It means that cable ISPs such as Comcast, AT&T or Verizon don’t get to choose which data is sent more quickly and which sites get blocked or throttled based on which content providers pay a premium.
Trump's 'war on the open internet': tech firms join day of action for net neutrality
As the comedian John Oliver puts it: “ISPs should not be able to engage in any fuckery that limits or manipulates the choices you make online.”
In February 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to more strictly regulate ISPs and to enshrine in law the principles of net neutrality. The vote reclassified wireless and fixed-line broadband service providers as title II “common carriers”, a public utility-type designation that gives the FCC the ability to set rates, open up access to competitors and more closely regulate the industry.
But Trump’s FCC, with Pai at the helm, wants to repeal the rules..........................