Friend,

We’ve conducted a thorough and philosophically sound study into the eternal “was this whole thing a good idea?” mystery of the internet — and our results may surprise you!

Take a look:

Of course, it turns out our opinions aren’t the ones that matter when it comes to this essential resource we all share. In 2017, Trump’s FCC (remember Ajit Pai and his silly Reese's mug? Ew.) scrapped Net Neutrality and its legal foundation, Title II, walking away from their responsibility to protect the public against privacy violations, billing fraud, data throttling and all manner of shady ISP behaviors. This was unpopular then and remains so now, because obviously.

California has a strong Net Neutrality law in place that’s been the lone bulwark against the worst impulses of ISPs, but state-by-state regulation of the internet isn’t enough. Title II is part of the federal law governing telecommunications services, which makes it the common-sense framework for the FCC to conduct necessary oversight.

And that brings us to how this email isn’t just reminding you about bad news! After 960 days of a deadlocked agency, we finally got a full five-member Federal Communications Commission after the Senate voted earlier this month to confirm Anna Gomez. For the first time since President Biden took office, the FCC can get to work on reinstating Net Neutrality and Title II.

Of course, those ISPs and their zillions of lobbyists are going to do everything they can to stop the agency from taking action. Here’s the thing: ISPs don’t get to speak for us. Will you add your name to our petition urging the FCC to restore Title II authority and safeguard Net Neutrality?

See you online,

Heather and the rest of the Free Press team
freepress.net