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Just a few years ago, powerful grassroots pressure rose up to protect a free and open internet.

FCC Chairman Pai claims the Net Neutrality rules have harmed five small ISPs. But Free Press looked at the FCC’s broadband-deployment data for these companies and found that four of them had expanded into new territory. The fifth started offering gigabit-internet service.

t’s tough to keep up with the cavalcade of bad policy coming out of Washington, but the expected repeal of Net Neutrality has captured public attention for one reason: Everyone needs the internet, and we need it to be open and free.

WASHINGTON — A coalition of Net Neutrality advocates plan a large protest outside Federal Communications Commission headquarters on Dec. 14 before the agency votes later that morning on Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal to undo the open-internet protections. The Net Neutrality Wake-Up Call Rally is hosted by Voices for Internet Freedom, a coalition of groups focused on the digital rights of communities of color.

WASHINGTON — On Monday, the FCC and the FTC released a draft “Memorandum of Understanding” on the ways the agencies will allegedly work together to protect internet users after the FCC guts the open-internet protections.

Before the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission made fun of himself, his critics, and the telecom industry at an annual Washington dinner, Net Neutrality activists protested nearby.

Net Neutrality is a simple concept but a dense and often technical issue normally discussed in tech and telecom circles. Now it’s hit the mainstream.

Free Press’ president talks about Net Neutrality, the Sinclair Broadcast Group and what it’s like to defend free speech and the open internet in the Trump era.

On Dec. 14, the Federal Communications Commission is due to vote on a plan to repeal its Net Neutrality rules. If this gets a green light, it will reshape the way the internet works in America, and most likely to the detriment of consumers and entrepreneurs.

Open-internet advocates participated in planned protests on Thursday at congressional offices and more than 700 Verizon stores in all 50 states, plus D.C.