How to Ask Congress and Government Officials to Maintain Online Neutrality
The FCC vote may be final, but net neutrality is far from dead . The new order will not go into effect for several weeks, and internet activists are expected to quickly file lawsuits to block the decision. Basically, there is still time to keep the web free and open, and you can help.
In a series of tweets, former political reporter and current Johns Hopkins graduate student Celeste Pewter argues that the best way to maintain net neutrality at this stage is to involve Congress and state governments. Here are all the people you should contact and the pre-written scripts you can use to do so.
Call Congress
Internet freedom may be a private matter for now, but several Republican senators have already broken with their party to maintain net neutrality. It’s possible that with enough pressure, Congress could come together to pass legislation that would establish net neutrality as law and replace the FCC’s decision.
You can find contact information for your members of Congress here (Senate) and here (House). Then use this script from Pewter to support your opinion.
Call your attorney general
Wired reports that state attorneys general have already mobilized in support of net neutrality. Attorneys general from New York , Illinois , Oregon , Massachusetts and Washington quickly announced plans to sue the FCC after Thursday’s vote. The Iowa attorney general also said he would look into the lawsuit, and ahead of a vote, 18 state attorneys general asked the FCC to defer a decision.
If your state attorney general is not yet working on maintaining net neutrality – or even if he is working – you can call them (find their information here ) and use this script from Pewter to see how they will react to the FCC order. You can also ask them to start investigating the fake comments that flooded the FCC website ahead of the vote.
Make net neutrality a problem in 2018
Finally, you can reach out to any candidates running for 2018 in your state and ask them to make net neutrality a key element of their campaign. This shouldn’t be too difficult, according to a recent poll, given that 83 percent of Americans support him. But by making net neutrality a major issue next year, we can increase the chances that all of this discussion will not be forgotten in the fog of 2018 interim results.
You can find any intermediate candidates for your state on this website , and here is a script from Pewter that you can use when you call or email them.