SaveTheInternet.com Coalition
Florida PIRG, MoveOn, Christian Coalition, Craig From Craigslist, And Thousands of Florida Residents
Local members of diverse SaveTheInternet.com Coalition deliver more than 20,000 petition signatures to Martinez’ Orlando Office
Orlando – Today, local citizens and members of the diverse SavetheInternet.com Coalition delivered more than 20,000 thousand petition signatures to Senator Martinez’ office in Orlando. Coalition members are urging the senator to defend Internet freedom for local families and small business during an important upcoming Senate vote.
In September, the Senate is expected to consider sweeping telecommunications legislation that fails to guarantee that the Internet will be kept free of telephone and cable company gatekeepers. The bill, which has already passed the House, fails to guarantee the Internet’s founding principle known as “Net Neutrality.”
More commonly called “Internet Freedom”, “net neutrality” was recently eliminated by the Federal Communications Commission. Unless Internet Freedom is reinstated, the telephone and cable companies could decide which websites open quickly on individual computers based on which sites pay them the most, or which have political views that they agree with.
“We are here today to let Senator Martinez know that 20,000 Floridians want an Internet that works for everyone, not just for the big telephone and cable companies,” said Brad Ashwell of Florida PIRG and the SavetheInternet.com coalition. “The telephone-company backed bill going to the Senate floor threatens Internet freedom unless it’s amended, yet we don’t know where the Senator stands on the issue even though he could be the deciding vote in the Senate.”
“AT&T, Verizon and Comcast and other big telephone and cable companies are spending millions lobbying Congress to permanently eliminate Internet Freedom,” added Robert Dzieken. “That’s bad for my small business called Digital Catalyst Computer Repair that depends on a neutral Internet, where the website of a small entrepreneur can be viewed just as easily as the site of a big corporation and doesn’t allow the telephone company to pick winners or losers.”
