Say No to Corporate Control: Thousands Turn Up to Call for Net Neutrality in Rallies Across US

By Beth Mole, Timothy B. Lee, Cyrus Farivar and John Timmer, Ars Technica

09 December 17

Protests led by various activist groups manage to turn out crowds large and small.

rotestors across the nation rallied in support for network neutrality on Thursday, a week before the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to take a historic vote rolling back network neutrality regulations. 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.

Ars visited protests in Washington DC, New York, and San Francisco.

Protests around the country

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. You can watch their brief speeches below. In a brief interview with Ars afterward, Clyburn said she was optimistic about the future of net neutrality, though she added "It may not happen overnight."

In all, organizers said they expected about 100 to 120 supporters to cycle through the event during the evening. They also elicited a lot of support from traffic passing by, with frequent enthusiastic honking and cheers from drivers.

Ars also visited two lightly attended protests in Washington DC earlier the same day. The first protest, held near Dupont Circle at 9am, attracted just three protestors. One of the protestors, Oliver Covington, told us he got up at 5am to catch a 6:30am train into the city in order to make the protest.

The trio made a day of the protests, attending a later protest, also in downtown DC, that attracted about a dozen demonstrators. The protestors marched and chanted slogans like "Ho ho, hey hey, network neutrality is here to stay"—a slogan Chairman Pai probably doesn't agree with.

In New York...

Around 250 protestors gathered in front of a Verizon store on New York's 42nd Street, just off Times Square. The crowd waved signs and chanted slogans, including: "Time to fret—We cannot let them have the net." Here are a few shots from the demonstration.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco

On Thursday evening, an estimated 200 people held signs and chanted at a downtown Verizon store to support net neutrality in the run-up to next week's vote on the issue. Ars attended the rally for approximately 30 minutes and witnessed a number of chants that are often heard at similar Bay Area protests. The crowd seemed generally friendly, making a pathway for pedestrians to walk down the Market Street sidewalk.

The chants included some call-and-response chants, including: "When I say Internet, you say Freedom!"

"Internet!"

"Freedom!"

"Internet!"

"Freedom!"

As Ars has reported, Pai's elimination of net neutrality rules, scheduled for a vote on December 14, will also shift consumer protection responsibility to the Federal Trade Commission and forbid state and local governments from writing their own net neutrality rules.