Net Neutrality Supporters Plan Nationwide Protests on December 7

By Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica

23 November 17

One site has enabled 180,000 calls to Congress in a single day.

he Obama administration's network neutrality rules are in danger, and the activists who helped get those regulations enacted aren't giving up without a fight. They're planning a series of protests nationwide to pressure the Federal Communications Commission to reject Chairman Ajit Pai's plan to roll back network neutrality protections.

The protests will be held outside Verizon stores on December 7, a week before an expected December 14 vote on Pai's proposal. They chose Verizon because Verizon has been a leading opponent of the net neutrality rules and because Pai worked as Verizon's associate general counsel from 2001 to 2003.

"The company has been spending millions on lobbying and lawsuits to kill net neutrality so they can gouge us all for more money," the protest organizers write. "We’re calling on our lawmakers to do their job overseeing the FCC and speak out against Ajit Pai’s plan to gut Title II net neutrality protections."

Reddit has emerged as a hub for protests in support of network neutrality. On Tuesday evening, almost every article on Reddit's home page focused on the net neutrality debate, with many pointing to the Battle for the Net activist site that is organizing calls to their members of Congress. As we write this on Wednesday morning, more than 180,000 people had made calls through the site today alone.