SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
"The millions and millions who have weighed in on this debate care about the open internet because it enables people to organize in their communities, fight for racial justice, start their own businesses and speak for themselves." (Photo: Flickr/House GOP/cc)
This Guy Thinks CEOs Should Control the Internet
Think the CEOs of the largest phone, cable and internet companies should call all the shots when it comes to Net Neutrality?
Aug 04, 2017
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon) does. Also the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Walden is inviting those execs to testify at a September hearing on "ground rules for the internet."
That's like inviting a fox to guard the henhouse. And to make matters worse, Walden didn't invite anyone else: It's a CEO-only hearing.
The idea that Net Neutrality is something that just needs to be sorted out between the executives of multibillion-dollar companies is insulting. The millions and millions who have weighed in on this debate care about the open internet because it enables people to organize in their communities, fight for racial justice, start their own businesses and speak for themselves.
So who will represent internet users, innovative startups and independent voices at this hearing?
Reps. Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) and Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania) have some suggestions. Eight, to be precise.
On Thursday, they called on Walden and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) to invite a truly diverse range of witnesses to represent the internet's breadth and depth. Among the eight witnesses the Democratic reps proposed adding are Blavity co-founder Jonathan Jackson, Brandi Collins of advocacy group Color Of Change, librarian Myrna Morales and Jesse Vollmar of the startup FarmLogs. The full letter from Reps. Pallone and Doyle is available here.
There's way too much at stake in the Net Neutrality fight to ignore important voices like these. More to the point: Policymakers like Walden who want to undermine the FCC's Title II Net Neutrality rules should back off. Real Net Neutrality means Title II. Period. And anyone who tells you otherwise is just trying to take it away.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon) does. Also the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Walden is inviting those execs to testify at a September hearing on "ground rules for the internet."
That's like inviting a fox to guard the henhouse. And to make matters worse, Walden didn't invite anyone else: It's a CEO-only hearing.
The idea that Net Neutrality is something that just needs to be sorted out between the executives of multibillion-dollar companies is insulting. The millions and millions who have weighed in on this debate care about the open internet because it enables people to organize in their communities, fight for racial justice, start their own businesses and speak for themselves.
So who will represent internet users, innovative startups and independent voices at this hearing?
Reps. Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) and Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania) have some suggestions. Eight, to be precise.
On Thursday, they called on Walden and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) to invite a truly diverse range of witnesses to represent the internet's breadth and depth. Among the eight witnesses the Democratic reps proposed adding are Blavity co-founder Jonathan Jackson, Brandi Collins of advocacy group Color Of Change, librarian Myrna Morales and Jesse Vollmar of the startup FarmLogs. The full letter from Reps. Pallone and Doyle is available here.
There's way too much at stake in the Net Neutrality fight to ignore important voices like these. More to the point: Policymakers like Walden who want to undermine the FCC's Title II Net Neutrality rules should back off. Real Net Neutrality means Title II. Period. And anyone who tells you otherwise is just trying to take it away.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon) does. Also the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Walden is inviting those execs to testify at a September hearing on "ground rules for the internet."
That's like inviting a fox to guard the henhouse. And to make matters worse, Walden didn't invite anyone else: It's a CEO-only hearing.
The idea that Net Neutrality is something that just needs to be sorted out between the executives of multibillion-dollar companies is insulting. The millions and millions who have weighed in on this debate care about the open internet because it enables people to organize in their communities, fight for racial justice, start their own businesses and speak for themselves.
So who will represent internet users, innovative startups and independent voices at this hearing?
Reps. Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) and Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania) have some suggestions. Eight, to be precise.
On Thursday, they called on Walden and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) to invite a truly diverse range of witnesses to represent the internet's breadth and depth. Among the eight witnesses the Democratic reps proposed adding are Blavity co-founder Jonathan Jackson, Brandi Collins of advocacy group Color Of Change, librarian Myrna Morales and Jesse Vollmar of the startup FarmLogs. The full letter from Reps. Pallone and Doyle is available here.
There's way too much at stake in the Net Neutrality fight to ignore important voices like these. More to the point: Policymakers like Walden who want to undermine the FCC's Title II Net Neutrality rules should back off. Real Net Neutrality means Title II. Period. And anyone who tells you otherwise is just trying to take it away.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.