Internet activists are urging voters to sign up for a system that will alert them to lawmakers who don’t sign on to efforts to overturn the Federal Communications Commission‘s (FCC) decision to repeal net neutrality protections.
Fight for the Future, an internet advocacy group that has organized numerous pro-net neutrality protests ahead of the FCC’s vote last month, launched VoteForNetNeutrality.com, a website that allows people to sign up for a pledge not to vote for members of Congress who do not support the attempt to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn the FCC’s decision.
The FCC voted 3 to 2, down party lines, to repeal net neutrality protections in early December. Critics fear the decision to repeal the rules, which require that all internet traffic be treated equally, opens the door for internet service providers (ISPs) to “slow down” or “speed up” certain internet traffic. For example, net neutrality rules make it impossible for Verizon to slow down the speed of Netflix in favor of its own streaming service.
The VoteForNetNeutrality website shows people which lawmakers have signed on to vote for the CRA (29 senators have said they will do so) and which ones have not. After signing the pledge, voters will get a text message the night before the 2018 elections that reminds them of their local representatives voting record on net neutrality.
“The public has spoken and voters are demanding that their lawmakers do their jobs and defend net neutrality,” Evan Greer, a campaign director for Fight for the Future, said in a statement. “Any lawmaker that ignores the overwhelming consensus among tech experts and this level of public outcry doesn’t deserve to be in office. News outlets keep asking whether net neutrality will be an election issue in 2018. We are going to make it one.”
The CRA allows Congress to overrule decisions made by federal agencies.
You can read more about VoteForNetNeutrality.com here.