{"id":255,"date":"2015-02-09T15:23:33","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T23:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/?p=255"},"modified":"2016-01-25T12:28:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T20:28:06","slug":"victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Victory for Net Neutrality – Let’s Take It Across the Finish Line"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

{Cross posted from Feb 4th blog post in Mozilla Blog<\/a>. Added FAQ.}<\/p>\n

Today, we heard<\/a> that we\u2019ve won a stunning victory in the fight to protect net neutrality. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has put forward a draft proposal for strong, enforceable net neutrality rules based on classifying broadband as a Title II communications service.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are on the cusp of meaningful protection for the free and open Web. \u00a0In the remaining days before the official vote on February 26th, policy makers will be subject to intense pressure from the cable and telecom industry lobby. So we need to keep working. To get net neutrality across the finish line, Mozilla is launching a campaign<\/b><\/a> that enables our community to stand together and send a strong signal to Washington, DC policy makers.<\/p>\n

The FCC\u2019s proposal is consistent with what we all wanted. \u00a0It reclassifies broadband as a Title II communications service, giving the FCC the authority to prohibit blocking or slowing down content \u2014 in essence, ISPs will not be able to create Internet fast lanes for the few big corporate giants that can afford it, and slow lanes for the rest of us. The world is watching, and the decisions reached in the U.S. will influence the global policy approach.<\/p>\n

But victory is never guaranteed.<\/p>\n

There are a handful of powerful interests in the cable and telecom industry that want to control both what is possible and what is imaginable on the Web. They are scared of net neutrality because they want to decide what we see and what we can do. They set the rules to dominate the market while stifling the innovation and opportunity of the Internet economy. They are the gatekeepers. We are the customers. And they\u2019ve set their lobbyists loose on Congress to raise false arguments, to stall progress, and to get the FCC to back down. We can\u2019t let them do this.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the vote on February 26th, Mozilla is launching an effort to take net neutrality across the finish line<\/b><\/a> by mobilizing our community and ensuring that policymakers hear their voices loud and clear.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve created a new, urgent petition that you can sign, so that your message \u2014 along with those of everyone else who speaks out \u2014 is sent directly to members of Congress. We\u2019ve also joined forces with Fight for the Future<\/a>, Demand Progress<\/a>, and Free Press<\/a> \u2014 key partners of ours in Stop SOPA and StopWatching.US \u2014 to enable our community to call their representatives of Congress. We will roll out this tool in the coming weeks as we get closer to the vote. We\u2019re raising awareness across all of our major Firefox and Mozilla channels.<\/p>\n

Taking on Goliaths is what the Mozilla community was born to do. The fight for choice in browsers; the fight to protect people\u2019s privacy from government and corporate surveillance \u2014 these are the fights that have tipped the scales towards a Web where people have freedom and control.<\/p>\n

Here we are \u2013 at another big tipping point for the Web. With days to go, this is our last chance to speak out before the FCC votes. Please stand with us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

========<\/p>\n

Frequently Asked Questions <\/b><\/p>\n

The Internet belongs to all of us. Protect net neutrality: Sign the Petition<\/a><\/p>\n

Q: What is net neutrality?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Net neutrality is the principle that all data on the Internet must be treated equally<\/b>. This means that Internet service providers (ISPs) and governments cannot discriminate what websites users can access, and they cannot prioritize or block content regardless of its source or how much users and providers pay.<\/p>\n

Q: Why does net neutrality matter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: The Internet is a fundamental part of our daily lives — it is vital for innovation, learning and opportunity. Keeping it open ensures that it will remain a global, shared resource for everyone.<\/p>\n

Q: What is Mozilla asking the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to do exactly?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: We are asking the FCC to protect real net neutrality for all Internet users and content creators. We ask that they vote to reclassify the Internet under Title II, which gives the FCC the authority to make sure ISPs do not discriminate in their provision of services.<\/p>\n

Q: If we want a free and open Internet, how is giving the government the authority to regulate it a good<\/i> thing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Title II doesn\u2019t give the government the authority to regulate what happens on the Internet, but rather to protect the Internet and its users from discrimination and paid prioritization.<\/p>\n

Q: Why is net neutrality in the news right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: The FCC votes on February 26th, 2015 whether or not to classify broadband as a Title II communications service. \u00a0People commented to the FCC more than 4 million times in favor of Title II, the most public comments the commission has ever seen. This decision is historic, and many governments around the world are discussing their net neutrality policies this year; the decisions reached in the United States will influence global policy approach.<\/p>\n

Q: What can I do to support net neutrality and take action to make my voice heard by the FCC?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: If you live in the U.S., you can sign the petition and\/or call your Congressional representative. Although the final decision will be made by the FCC — commissioners who are appointed and not elected — Congress determines the FCC\u2019s budget, and has the political ability to undermine the FCC; this is why it\u2019s critical for Congress and the FCC to align. If you live outside of the U.S, \u00a0<\/i>please forward this to anyone you know in-country.<\/p>\n

Q: What happens if the FCC doesn\u2019t vote in favor of Title II?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: If broadband isn\u2019t reclassified under Title II, it would be considered an \u201cinformation service,\u201d which will not be protected as well by the FCC. As an information service, your Internet access could be throttled, slowed down, or even blocked. Under Title II, the FCC will protect the free and open Web.<\/p>\n

More questions? Check out these additional resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Net Neutrality Wiki: https:\/\/wiki.mozilla.org\/Netpolicy\/Net_neutrality<\/a><\/p>\n

Net Neutrality: Concepts: https:\/\/training.webmakerprototypes.org\/en\/net-neutrality\/concepts\/#<\/a>”<\/p>\n

Net Neutrality: External resources: https:\/\/training.webmakerprototypes.org\/en\/net-neutrality\/resources\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Tumblr: Help the FCC Protect the Internet: https:\/\/www.tumblr.com\/everybodyontheinternet<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Cross posted from Feb 4th blog post in Mozilla Blog. Added FAQ.} Today, we heard that we\u2019ve won a stunning victory in the fight to protect net neutrality. The U.S. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":707,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162584],"tags":[31769],"coauthors":[],"yoast_head":"\nVictory for Net Neutrality - Let's Take It Across the Finish Line - Open Policy & Advocacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Steer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/\",\"name\":\"Victory for Net Neutrality - Let's Take It Across the Finish Line - Open Policy & Advocacy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-09T23:23:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-25T20:28:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/2e7e0f8b4193dd2f3c0848df6b31ec83\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Victory for Net Neutrality – Let’s Take It Across the Finish Line\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/\",\"name\":\"Open Policy & Advocacy\",\"description\":\"Mozilla's official blog on open Internet policy initiatives and developments\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/2e7e0f8b4193dd2f3c0848df6b31ec83\",\"name\":\"Dave Steer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/d0451262fb05b2f487a5fc63ba370802\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7426a1e28f5bc4c662b7d00ba7a9035?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7426a1e28f5bc4c662b7d00ba7a9035?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Steer\"},\"description\":\"Dave Steer is the Director of Advocacy at the Mozilla Foundation.\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Victory for Net Neutrality - Let's Take It Across the Finish Line - Open Policy & Advocacy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Steer","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/","name":"Victory for Net Neutrality - Let's Take It Across the Finish Line - Open Policy & Advocacy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-02-09T23:23:33+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-25T20:28:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/2e7e0f8b4193dd2f3c0848df6b31ec83"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/02\/09\/victory-for-net-neutrality-lets-take-it-across-the-finish-line\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Victory for Net Neutrality – Let’s Take It Across the Finish Line"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/","name":"Open Policy & Advocacy","description":"Mozilla's official blog on open Internet policy initiatives and developments","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/2e7e0f8b4193dd2f3c0848df6b31ec83","name":"Dave Steer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/d0451262fb05b2f487a5fc63ba370802","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7426a1e28f5bc4c662b7d00ba7a9035?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7426a1e28f5bc4c662b7d00ba7a9035?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Steer"},"description":"Dave Steer is the Director of Advocacy at the Mozilla Foundation."}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/707"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}