Seattle hosted the FCC for two citizen community meetings about net neutrality in 2010. I was able to attend the first informal meeting where the community spoke directly to the FCC about net neutrality and why it was important to them. It was considered a "listening" meeting.
I spoke about how important an open Internet was to LGBT people. I told them how devastating it would be to our community if Comcast required a premium fee to access LGBT websites, or if AT&T chose to filter out all LGBT content. I made the connection between community organizing and an open Internet by telling them about my experience as the Social Media Director for the Approve Referendum 71 campaign.
The FCC listened as I told them that we were able to attract more than 40,000 people in less than six weeks to our Facebook page because the Internet is not censored. We were able to motivate younger, more progressive voters to participate in that campaign. I made it clear to the FCC - those voters helped us win.
Continue reading "Why Equality Depends on Net Neutrality "...
