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'Face Reality! We Need Net Neutrality!' Crowd Chants Across the Country (arstechnica.com)

Posted by msmash on from the listen-to-us-already dept.

ArsTechnica staff took to the streets in Washington DC, New York, and San Francisco to capture rallies in support for net neutrality, a week before the FCC is scheduled to take a historic vote rolling back network neutrality regulations. From their report: Protestors say those regulations, which were enacted by the Obama FCC in 2015, are crucial for protecting an open Internet. Organizers chose to hold most of the protests outside of Verizon cell phone stores. Ajit Pai, the FCC Chairman who is leading the agency's charge to repeal network neutrality, is a former Verizon lawyer, and Verizon has been a critic of the Obama network neutrality rules. The protest that got the most attention from FCC decision makers took place on Thursday evening in Washington DC. The FCC was holding a dinner event at the Hilton on Connecticut Avenue, just north of the city's Dupont Circle area. Protestors gathered on the street corner outside the hotel, waving pro-net neutrality posters to traffic, blaring chants, projecting pro-net neutrality messages on a building across the street, and telling personal stories about what net neutrality meant to them via a megaphone. The FCC's two Democratic commissioners also joined the demonstration, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. They both gave brief speeches to the protestors, rallying for the cause and discussing the importance of a neutral Internet.

8 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Chants by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Chanting does a lot of good. It really changes things, because the government really cares what you think.

    1. Re:Chants by sycodon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Homeless dude's Resume:

      Participated in Anti-Trump Rally. Looked very upset.

      Participated in BLM Rally. Looked very sincere.

      Participated in Climate Rally. Looked very scared.

      Participated in Net Neutrality Rally. Looked very confused.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    2. Re:Chants by Eldaar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Clearly many national politicians don't much care what the people think, but they do care about getting re-elected.

      As it turns out, chanting and protesting can draw media attention. And when the media actually does cover protests, that's when politicians start to feel the heat - when they start to realize that the issue might affect their re-election, at least a little bit. And that's when they'll start to care.

      So protesting matters in that sense. It also helps the public see what others in society think is important enough to protest about, which can affect the viewers' own thinking on the issue. Protesting also matters in that sense.

    3. Re:Chants by ljw1004 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Chanting does a lot of good. It really changes things, because the government really cares what you think.

      See: Gandhi, MLK, John Woolman, Emmeline Pankhurst, Ned Ludd, and the "can't pay won't pay" chants that took down Margaret Thatcher - http://www.economist.com/node/...

      I think that chanting is the most effective means we have to change society, second only to "having lots of money". (albeit a distant second).

  2. Were they in the form of legal opinions? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If not, Ajit Pai doesn't care about what you have to say. Anti-net-neutrality bot comments are acceptable in any form however.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    1. Re:Were they in the form of legal opinions? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Informative

      Please provide a source where anyone at the FCC said that anti-NN consumer comments in any form (much less ones from bots) drove their decision to any degree. Thanks.

      There's no indication that the FCC cared in any way about comments from the public.

      But someone sure went to a lot of effort to post over a million anti-Net Neutrality comments to the FCC using stolen identities a bot network.

      https://boingboing.net/2017/11...

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  3. So a bunch of people in states by rsilvergun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That didn't vote for Trump are protesting. Folks, you do realize this doesn't matter, right? Steve Bannon might be an unrepentant asshole but he said something brilliant. I'm paraphrasing here but the gist is: if the other side keeps banging on about issue the working class doesn't care about and we're sticking to a message of economic popularism we're going to be in power for the next 1000 years. I know a bunch of liberals who were upset that the 1000 year part was a thinly veiled reference to the Third Reich, again, missing the point entirely...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  4. Re:We Can Has Freedom? by SirGarlon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Then they are probably celebrating the REMOVAL of regulations over the internet, which means more freedom - not less.

    Very often, both sides in a conflict can shout "freedom" and claim the moral high ground. Remember the Confederate monuments? Those brave Southern heroes were fighting for their freedom -- their freedom to own other people. Freedom and tyranny are in the eye of the beholder.

    I agree, saying "freedom from regulation" sounds a lot better than saying "corporations' right to prey on their own customers is more important than the customers' right to choose what information they can access." When you put that way, it's hard to get behind.

    For my part, I care a lot more about my own freedom than I do about Verizon's.

    --
    [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.