Congress is about to kill our free Internet for corporate giants

The risk of removal of a free Internet is upon us! In weeks, the “net neutrality” rules that have been in place for years will be voted upon. Removing them will allow companies such as Spectrum, Frontier and others to choke down speeds and disallow access to websites for any reason.

What? Did I hear that right? Telecom companies will have the right to censor information and slow access? We should all be concerned about both the free speech issue as well as potential price increases as a result of the removal of current protections which have been in place for years.

The FCC correctly classifies the Internet as a "Telecommunications Service." But Senate Bill S.993 changes this. It is “A bill to prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from reclassifying broadband Internet access service as a telecommunications service and from imposing certain regulations on providers of such service.” This bill is deceptively named “Restoring Internet Freedom Act.” This type of naming is more and more common as corporate lobbyists try to hustle bills through before the public has time to become aware of what's happening. This bill should be named “Giving Telecommunication Giants Power to Censor the Web, and Charge More for Services.”

Obviously with an honest name, it would never pass, so a short and deceptive name was chosen. I’d like to urge all readers to learn the truth about this bill, and contact their congressmen and senators about this issue. We have all taken Internet freedom for granted. It will be much harder to get our freedoms back once they are taken away.

Sen. Marco Rubio needs to defend his support for this perk for powerful corporate interests that are trying to push this through.

This story was originally published November 27, 2017 at 10:26 AM with the headline "Congress is about to kill our free Internet for corporate giants."