Nearly three years ago, John Oliver dedicated an episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight to the topic of net neutrality. The open internet was under attack by cable companies, but as Oliver pointed out at the time, the subject was too bland for most major news networks to spend any time covering. Rather than accept defeat, Oliver directed his audience to the FCC’s comment page, where they could voice their displeasure to the commission. The site received so much traffic that it was inaccessible.
Three years later, the FCC has a new Chairman — Ajit Pai — who just so happens to have been a lawyer for Verizon. Believe it or not, he doesn’t support the “burdensome” regulations that have been placed on ISPs to keep the internet open and neutral, so Oliver needs our help once again.
In the video below, Oliver gives a crash course on net neutrality, explains the rules that were put in place during the Obama era and introduces us all to Chairman (and very cool, likable guy) Ajit Pai:
Before the end of May, the FCC will vote on Pai’s proposal to repeal the classification of the internet as a common carrier (that’s the Title II classification Oliver referred to in the video). Following that vote, there will be months of discussion as to what rules should be put in place (the fewer the better, in Pai’s view), but if you want to make yourself heard before any votes can be cast, you should do so immediately.
The comment page is once again under heavy load this morning as the hundreds of thousands of people who have already watched the segment from Last Week Tonight attempt to leave comments, but keep visiting GoFCCYourself.com until you can get through and add your voice to the conversation.
