Nothing like waiting until the last minute right guys?
While Netflix had been a common talking point for illustrating the concept of Net Neutrality, pretty much any company doing business online should be interested in how bandwidth is regulated.
Now the big boys are starting to make a little noise. In a letter sent to the FCC yesterday, 150 companies including those listed in the title of this post, signed on in opposition to the FCC’s proposed “fast lane” rules. The proposed rules will allow carriers and ISP’s to negotiate separate deals with individual companies for consistent bandwidth.
The FCC will vote on the proposal in one week. If you’re interested in voicing your concerns to the FCC and your elected officials, we’ve put together a contact list here.
You can read the letter below.
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW
Washington D.C. 20554
May 7, 2014
Dear Chairman Wheeler and Commissioners Clyburn, Rosenworcel, Pai, and O’Rielly:
We write to express our support for a free and open internet. Over the past twenty years, American innovators have created countless Internet-based applications, content offerings, and services that are used around the world. These innovations have created enormous value for Internet users, fueled economic growth, and made our Internet companies global leaders. The innovation we have seen to
date happened in a world without discrimination.
An open Internet has also been a platform for free speech and opportunity for billions of users. The Commission’s long-standing commitment and actions undertaken to protect the open Internet are a central reason why the Internet remains an engine of entrepreneurship and economic growth. According to recent news reports, the Commission intends to propose rules that would enable phone and cable Internet service providers to discriminate both technically and financially against Internet companies and to impose new tolls on them. If these reports are correct, this represents a grave
threat to the Internet.
Instead of permitting individualized bargaining and discrimination, the Commission’s rules should protect users and Internet companies on both fixed and mobile platforms against blocking, discrim- ination, and paid prioritization, and should make the market for Internet services more transparent. The rules should provide certainty to all market participants and keep the costs of regulation low.
Such rules are essential for the future of the Internet. This Commission should take the necessary steps to ensure that the Internet remains an open platform for speech and commerce so that America continues to lead the world in technology markets.
Sincerely,
Amazon
Cogent
Dropbox
Ebay
Etsy
Facebook
Foursquare
Google
Kickstarter
Level 3
LinkedIn
Lyft
Microsoft
Netflix
Reddit
Tumblr
Twitter
Vonage
Holdings Corp.
Yahoo! Inc.
Zynga
2600hz, Inc.
2redbeans
4chan
8×8, Inc.
Addy
AdviserDeck
Agile Learning Labs
Airdroids
AirHelp
AnalyticsMD
Appar
Apportable
AppRebates
Apptology
Assembly Made, Inc.
Authentise
Automattic/WordPress.com
BadgerMapping
Bitnami
BitTorrent
Blu Zone
CBeyond
Chirply
Clef
CloudFare
Codecademy
CodeCombat
CodeHS
CodeScience
Colourful Rebel
Contextly
Coursera
CrowdTilt
Cube, Co
dasData
Digg
Distinc.tt
DuckDuckGo
Duolingo
DynaOptics
Embedly
Fandor
Floor64
Flowroute
Flurry
Fonebook
Funeral Innovations
Gandi
Gawker
General Assembly
Github
Grid
Handy Networks
Haystack.tv
Heavybit Industries
HelloSign
HeyZap
iFixit
iLost
Imgur
Instapaper
inXile Entertainment
Kaltura
LawGives
Leaflad
LendUp
Linearair
Linknovate
littleBits
Lucipher.net
MDDHosting LLC
Medium
Meetup
Meteor Development Grouo
Minds + Machines
Misk
MixRank
MobileWorks
Motionry
MozartMedical
Mozilla
NOTCOT Inc
O’Reilly Media
OfficeNinjas
Open Materials
Open Spectrum
OpenDNS
Opera Software ASA
PayTango
Pocket/ReaditLaterPoll Everywhere, Inc
Printrbot
Publitas.com
Rallyware
Recrout
Redbubble
Rewheel/Digital Fuel Monitor
Reylabs
Rogue Labs
Shapeways
Sidecar
Sift Science
Simpolaris
SketchDeck
Skytree
SlidePay, Inc
Socialscope
Solidoodle
SpiderOak
SpoonRocket
Spotfront
StackExchange
StartX Stanford
Statwing
Tastemaker
The Next Web
Triggit
Tsumobi
Tucows
Twilio
UberConference
UltiMachine
Ustream
Vidmaker
Volary Foundation
Voys Telecom
Waxy
Worldly
Xola
Yanomo