FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel.
In the ongoing campaign to strengthen the FCC’s current net neutrality proposal, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn met on Thursday in Philadelphia with net neutrality supporters to hear the rising call from the public—
an urge for large, open field hearings on the proposed net neutrality rules.
Our partners at Free Press delivered more than 100,000 people along with a letter on behalf of the Writer’s Guild of America East and the Manhattan Neighborhood Network.
If we had public field hearings, members of the FCC could meet with the public to address concerns over the FCC’s current net “neutrality” proposal—which still leaves room for telecom providers like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and Cox to carve the internet into fast and slow lanes.
As of now, there are no plans for such events. While Chairman Wheeler and the other commissioners have speaking engagements and travel plans on the books, these are generally small or invite-only events, which do not focus on the net neutrality proposal.
Please read below the fold for more on this story.
Public field hearings would be an opportunity for the public to voice concerns over the flawed proposal that has been set forth by Chairman Tom Wheeler.
Commissioner Clyburn has prided herself on being an advocate for those who don’t have a voice in Washington, D.C. and she has a record to prove it. She has lead on issues that impact communities of color and those in rural America and we hope that she will continue this tradition by taking a lead role in shaping stronger net neutrality rules which would classify the internet as a public utility under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.
After all, it was Title II that helped spur the buildout of telephone infrastructure to rural America and marginalized communities who were not being served by the telecom providers.
On the afternoon of July 7, more than 130,000 comments from the Daily Kos community have been filed in the net neutrality docket urging the FCC to hold large, open public field hearings about creating stronger net neutrality rules.
Please send a message to the FCC inviting them to hold large, open public field hearings on net neutrality. It’s time for the commission to get away from the telecom lobbyists and talk to the public.