If you’ve ever tried to cancel a service that doesn’t let you cancel via email or online, you may know the frustration it is to have to defend your decision to a customer “service” representative. Hopefully, few calls are as bad as this.
As much as we’d like to, The New Civil Rights Movement hasn’t covered net neutrality enough. If you stop to think about it, equal access to the Internet — and readers and supporters having equal access to civil rights sites like The New Civil Rights Movement — is an important step in the battle for civil rights and equality for all. If you don’t know the extent of your inequality, and if you cannot connect to others in your community, you can’t become equal. If you can’t have easy access to read about the experience of others — or write about your own — then you’re truly isolated and unable to help create change.
In short, a free Internet that allows undeterred access is a civil rights, social justice, and free speech issue.
On Twitter last night, tech reporter Ryan Block posted the final eight minutes of what he says was an 18 minute conversation he and his wife had with a Comcast service representative when they called to cancel their service.
If you can bear to listen to all eight minutes you deserve a medal.
And it’s going viral. Last night, when I first saw Block’s SoundCloud post, it had been heard about 6000 times. Now, 882,000 times — in less than 24 hours.
The point here is that Internet providers are increasing becoming insane, monolithic giants who throttle down our access to content. In many parts of the country — even in New York City — you may have access to only one, maybe two broadband providers (as I can personally attest from my 50+ visits from Time Warner Cable technicians over a three-year period.)
Ironically, at midnight tonight the FCC will stop taking comments from the public on net neutrality.
You still don’t care about net neutrality?
Consider this.
If the FCC decides to make any alterations to our current system, there’s a strong chance that your favorite sites, including The New Civil Rights Movement, won’t be able to survive. The faster sites (our new upgrade makes us about seven times faster, but is it enough?) supported by millions of dollars — from the Huffington Post to the Wall Street Journal to the New York Times — will likely do even better, but smaller sites that can’t afford to pay extra just to get to their readers won’t.
Via tech site Slashdot:
samzenpus (5)Â writes
“The deadline for the FCC’s public comment period on their proposed net neutrality rule is coming up fast. The final day to let the FCC know what you think is tomorrow, July 15. A total of 647,000 comments have already been sent. Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon and other tech companies are making a final push for net neutrality saying that the FCC decision, “shifts the balance from the consumers’ freedom of choice to the broadband Internet access providers’ gatekeeping decisions.” The Consumerist has a guide to help you through the comment process, so make sure your voice is heard.”
Still don’t care?
Listen to this insane eight-minute audio recorded by tech writer (ironically, an AOL employee, for those who remember what canceling AOL was like) Ryan Block and his wife.
If you want this to be the norm — where cable and broadband companies have, or think they have — this much control over you, then fine. If not, make your voice heard.Â
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UPDATE:
Engadget: FCC extends the deadline for comments on net neutrality until Friday night http://t.co/pFCsrSGdPw
— Net Tech News (@nettechnews) July 15, 2014
Image by Free Press via Flickr
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