Proceeding(s): 17-108 : Restoring Internet Freedom

Support-Net-Neutrality.txt

Proceeding(s): 17-108 : Restoring Internet Freedom

Filer(s): Joseph M. Winett

Brief Comments: I urge you to protect the Open Internet Rules.

My support for net neutrality is based on personal experience:

- owned and operated a small ISP in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
- tried to start a CLEC after the Telecommunications Act of 1996
- negotiated for special interconnection agreements with Southwestern Bell and GTE

Both sides of the debate make valid points, but I believe the danger is too great to allow common carriers
to decide to delay some IP packets over others.  The FCC would never allow the telephone company to decide 
which calls they'll deliver promptly (with exception of 911 priority).

I agree with all this boilerplate stuff:  Thank you, Joseph M Winett

Censorship by carriers is a serious problem. Comcast has throttled Netflix, AT&T blocked FaceTime, Time Warner
Cable throttled the popular game League of Legends, and Verizon admitted it will introduce fast lanes for sites
that pay-and slow lanes for everyone else-if the FCC lifts the rules. This hurts consumers and businesses large
and small.

Courts have made clear that if the FCC ends Title II classification, the FCC must let ISPs offer "fast lanes" 
to websites for a fee.

Chairman Pai has made clear that he intends to do exactly this.

But if some companies can pay our ISPs to have their content load faster, startups and small businesses that can't
pay those fees won't be able to compete. You will kill the open marketplace that has enabled millions of small businesses
and created the 5 most valuable companies in America-just to further enrich a few much less valuable cable giants
famous for sky-high prices and abysmal customer service.

Internet providers will be able to impose a private tax on every sector of the American economy.

Moreover, under Chairman Pai's plan, ISPs will be able to make it more difficult to access political speech that they 
don't like. They'll be able to charge fees for website delivery that would make it harder for blogs, nonprofits, artists, 
and others who can't pay up to have their voices heard.

I'm sending this to the FCC's open proceeding, but I worry that Chairman Pai, a former Verizon lawyer, has made his plans 
and will ignore me and millions of other Americans.

So I'm also sending this to my members of Congress. Please publicly support the FCC's existing net neutrality rules 
based on Title II, and denounce Chairman Pai's plans. Do whatever you can to dissuade him.

Thank you!