Save Net Neutrality

The open Internet is in peril - a federal appeals court just struck down Net Neutrality and sided with giant corporations like Verizon who want to control how we experience the Internet. Now, Internet service providers like Verizon can block content they disagree with or slow down access to websites who can't afford to pay what corporations can for higher speeds. But we can still stop this.

The FCC has the power to protect Net Neutrality by reclassifying broadband as a telecommunications service. Doing so will give them the power to reinstate the Net Neutrality protections taken away by Verizon. It's absolutely necessary that they do this because net neutrality is the basis for what has made the Internet a place where what you know is more valuable than whom you know.

Net Neutrality is incredibly important to the Student Net Alliance because it allows the free flow of ideas to shape our education. An open Internet provides one of the purest forms of democracy today, allowing students to access a limitless supply of information, for relatively low cost and with great ease. When those invaluable avenues for education and social interaction are threatened by entrenched corporations acting as gatekeepers in pursuit of profit, the Student Net Alliance (SNA) mobilizes students, educators, and alumni worldwide to defend the Internet as a tool for everyone to use with equal caliber.

We can't stand idly by while the Internet is sold to the highest bidder. Join us in asking the FCC to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service.

Sign petition here

There is a vote coming on the 26th

On Feb. 26, the FCC will vote on rules that use Title II to protect real Net Neutrality. If all goes well, it will be a watershed victory for activists who have fought for a decade to protect the open Internet.

Unfortunately, the cable and phone companies are doing everything they can to weaken these rules before the vote. And members of Congress are also trying to stop the FCC.

Q. What's the problem?
A. Most people get their high-speed Internet access from only a few telecommunications giants...

Q. What do you mean, they might "manipulate our data"?
A. New technologies now allow telecom companies to scrutinize every piece of information we send or receive online...

Q. They're not allowed to do that, are they?
A. The phone company isn't allowed to do that, and, for a while, the FCC said broadband providers...

Q. Why would the telecoms want to interfere with Internet data?
A. Profit and other corporate interests. Companies might want to interfere with speech...

Q. Won't competition prevent them from doing any of this?
A. It should and normally it would — but it won't. First of all, manipulations of our data are...

Q. Have there been any actual instances of service providers interfering with the Internet, or is this just all theoretical?
A. Real abuses have happened consistently over the past decade (see Abuses below).

Q. So what exactly is "net neutrality," and what would it do?
A. Network neutrality means applying well-established "common carrier" rules to the Internet...

Q. Why should I care about net neutrality now?
A. In the past, telecom companies were always forced – formally or informally – to adhere...

Q. What can be done to preserve the freedom and openness of the Internet?
A. The FCC can still protect the Internet. The agency was not blocked outright by the January...

Q. Why does the ACLU care about preserving the openness of the Internet?
A. Network neutrality is a consumer issue, but it is also one of the foremost free speech issues of our...
Q. What can I do?

Take action! Tell the FCC that it can and should immediately move to protect free speech, consumers and network neutrality either through reclassifying broadband providers as telecommunications services or acting to promote broadband deployment.