ACLU: Keep the Internet Open and Innovative (4/17/2008)
Activists Speak Out
Against Censorship by Network Operators at FCC Field Hearing FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: (202) 675-2312 media@dcaclu.org Washington, DC –The ACLU submitted
comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today calling for open
access to the internet. Its activists plan to participate in today’s FCC public
hearing on Internet freedom and net neutrality in Palo Alto. In comments to the FCC, director of
the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, Caroline Fredrickson, said the “future
of the Internet as a marketplace of ideas for all users” is at stake.
Fredrickson said the ACLU’s comments “raise the broader question of whether the
Internet is to be preserved as a bastion for the exchange of lawful content and
ideas free of censorship by corporate gatekeepers.” Fredrickson said that on the
Internet, speakers exercising their First Amendment rights are forced to strike
deals with network operators. She said that forcing speakers to negotiate for
free speech rights is precisely what the FCC should seek to avoid, and that a
genuine network neutrality policy would avert. Fredrickson said, “The
Internet is too valuable a public conduit to allow it to fall prey to parochial
business interests.” The ACLU comments make clear that
Internet access is “not just any business; it involves the sacred role of making
available to citizens a forum for speech and self-expression and access to the
speech and self-expression of others.” The ACLU, which has been fighting
for free speech for 87 years, wants government leaders both at the FCC and in
Congress to take immediate action to safeguard free speech and innovation
online. “At stake is whether we should
allow a handful of giant corporations to stifle free expression on the Web for
their own gain,” she said. The ACLU advocates that the government should put in
place baseline protections that will leave the Internet open to the millions of
people who use it. For the ACLU’s comments to the FCC:
http://http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/34924leg20080417.html /
If you want to learn more about
keeping the internet free and open go to:
http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/internet/26816res20060925.html
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