About 30 people who think the Internet needs to be "saved" gathered with signs outside U.S. Sen. Patty Murray's office in downtown Spokane on Thursday, asking her to vote against a pending telecommunications bill.

The proposal should be defeated unless it guarantees "net neutrality," a concept which says Internet service providers shouldn't be able to charge Web sites to allow them to open more quickly on a user's computer, said the group, SavetheInternet.com. After several speeches, they presented Murray's Spokane staff with petitions that the group said were signed by 27,577 people over the Internet.

A spokesman for Murray said she's still studying the bill.