The protest called the ‘Day of Action’ is being organized by some Net Neutrality advocacy groups including Fight for the Future, Free Press, and Demand Progress. The protest is being organized by the advocacy groups, against the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), the US communications regulatory agency’s recent regulatory behavior of revoking its 2015 net neutrality rules. According to a report from Fortune, “The participation of Google and Facebook could be a game-changer because their sites are visited by hundreds of millions of Americans, and a message from them could rally new opposition to the FCC plan.” As per the report, the upcoming July 12 campaign reminds of another similar protest held in 2012 in USA. It was when the tech companies protested against a controversial copyright bill known as SOPA. The outrage of the protest resulted in Congress revoking the bill. A similar uproar could possibly lead Congress or the White House to put pressure on FCC to reconsider its plan to end Net Neutrality, while the agency is accepting public comments on the plan. US President Donald Trump had appointed Indian-origin Ajit Pai to head the FCC, who also had been a Verizon lawyer. The pro-Net Neutrality groups are urging tech industry and others to oppose Pai’s plan to remove the Net Neutrality order which was issued in 2015.
What is Net Neutrality?
Net Neutrality is the basic principle that protects users’ freedom on the Internet. It makes sure that Internet service providers should treat all data on the Internet the same. It prevents Internet Service Providers from discriminating or charging differentially and from slowing down and blocking websites to reach an audience. With this campaign, these groups are urging tech industry to send their comments through their website to the FCC. The current public comments period will last until July 17 and will be followed by the second round in August.
