The Internet Just Can't Catch a Break
Last week, the House voted along party lines to repeal online privacy rules,enabling telecom companies to sell your web browsing data.
Facing an immediate backlash, Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T said they won't do that. (Our question: why else was this law passed? Here's something you can do to protect yourself, just in case.)
Now, as feared, net neutrality is on the chopping block too.
Net neutrality has been the rule since 2015, when open internet advocates won an epic battle before the Federal Communications Commission. It protects the principle of an open internet, ensuring that all traffic is treated equally and preventing internet service providers from creating fast and slow lanes.
The new FCC Chair Ajit Pai wants to change all that.
Last week he called these rules a "mistake", and he has previously advocated taking a "weed whacker" to net neutrality.
How to help prevent the return of this sound
Laugh about even this with John Oliver's all-caps refresher.
Connect with and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Free Press, and Fight for the Future.
Sign this petition.