Media Access Project Represents Dozens of Civil Rights and Public Interest Groups in a Nationwide Call for Network Neutrality Protections
Posted: Thursday January 14, 2010
Media Access Project today submitted two sets of public comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in support of network neutrality protections. The comments were filed on behalf of over forty civil rights and public interest organizations nationwide (listed below).
“Network neutrality principles must be enacted to ensure open and nondiscriminatory online communication,” said Parul P. Desai, Vice President of Media Access Project. “Freedom of expression online enables individuals and communities to find, create, and share knowledge, and defines the framework for individual and societal development and economic opportunity. Network neutrality would ensure that the public, and especially underprivileged communities, would be able to continue to speak out openly and avoid discrimination.”
In both comments, MAP and these groups called on the FCC to limit its definition of “reasonable network management” strictly to instances of limited or intermittent duration, designed to address legitimate congestion and traffic management issues. MAP and the signatories also called on the FCC also to apply the same net neutrality principles to wireline and wireless service providers alike.
One set of comments, submitted on behalf of a coalition of civil rights groups, laid out the importance of an open Internet to increase political participation in historically marginalized communities. Access to an open and nondiscriminatory Internet, MAP and these groups explained, “is especially crucial in light of a history in which these communities have often been disadvantaged and discriminated against.” Ownership concentration and general biases in traditional media outlets have caused inaccurate and distorted news and images of these communities, leading to misconceptions and stereotypes about them. With low barriers to entry, the Internet can change this bleak scenario and allow historically underprivileged communities to speak for themselves through the creation of their own content.
The other set of comments, submitted on behalf of public interest organizations, similarly explained the crucial role net neutrality and an open Internet play in the lives of everyday Americans. Due to a lack of content discrimination, people find and apply for jobs, manage their finances, receive news alerts, apply to college, access public assistance, and find medical information. An open Internet also promotes technological innovation, thus advancing economic growth and job creation. Network neutrality protections, MAP and other public interest groups argued, would help to “fulfill the mandate of the First Amendment, which states that government should seek to promote the public’s right to have access to diverse and varied social, political, artistic expression. By creating a better-informed electorate, such practices advance the operation of democratic self-governance.”
Media Access Project is a non-profit, public interest law firm dedicated to promoting the public’s First Amendment right to access a diverse marketplace of ideas in mass media. For over 37 years, MAP has promoted the public interest before the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Courts, advocating for an open and diverse telecommunications system that protects the free flow of information, promotes universal and equitable access to communications and technology services, and encourages vibrant public discourse on critical issues facing our society.
Signatories to the civil rights comments include:
Afro-Netizen
Applied Research Center
ColorOfChange.Org
Media Action Grassroots Network
National Association of Hispanic Journalists
Native Public Media
Presente.Org
Rural Broadband Policy Group
Signatories to the public interest comments include:
Access Humboldt
Alliance for Community Media
Appalshop
Benton Foundation
California Center for Rural Policy
CCTV Center for Media & Democracy
Center for Digital Democracy
Center for Media Justice
Center for Rural Strategies
Community Papers of Florida
Community Papers of Ohio and West Virginia
Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
Florida PIRG
Free Community Papers of New York
Housing Assistance Council
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Local 782
Main Street Project
Media Alliance
Media Justice League
Media Literacy Project
Media Mobilizing Project
Mid-Atlantic Community Papers Association
Midwest Free Community Papers
Minnesota Digital Justice Coalition
New America Foundation
Open Technology Initiative
People Escaping Poverty Project
People’s Production House
Prometheus Radio Project
Philly Community Access Media (PhillyCAM)
Public Knowledge
Reclaim the Media
Southeastern Advertising Publishers Association
Transmission Project
United Church of Christ Office of Communication, Inc.
U.S. PIRG
Wisconsin Community Papers