Net Neutrality

New Media Rights urges California legislators to enact state-based net neutrality protections

New Media Rights has advocated for net neutrality for nearly a decade through comments (our most recent comments defending net neutrality were submitted last summer) and our work with the Consumer Advisory Committee at the Federal Communications Commission. While the FCC repealed net neutrality protections in December, the fight to preserve a free and open internet does not end with the federal government. A number of states have recently introduced legislation to ensure that net neutrality protections survive, and in California, it has taken the form of a handful of bills that would offer comprehensive protection.

Today, New Media Rights sent a letter to senators Ben Hueso and Mike Morrell, the chair and vice-chair of the California Senate Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications urging them to support SB 822.

New Media Rights joins 32 civil liberties groups in letter supporting Title II Net Neutrality

On December 7, 2017, New Media Rights joined more than 30 press freedom, civil liberties and open government groups in submitting a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai urging him to cancel the scheduled Dec. 14 vote to undermine the open-internet protections put in place in 2015.

“You must not abandon Net Neutrality,” the letter to Pai reads. “The open internet is today our main conduit for expression and information. It is our library, our printing press, our delivery truck and our town square. Journalists, academics, governments and local communities depend on it to connect, communicate and collaborate every day. And as old models for news and information evolve or decline, the internet presents opportunities for new and independent media outlets to emerge.”

New Media Rights files comments urging the FCC to protect the Open Internet by maintaining Title II regulation.

The 2015 Open Internet Rules preserved the internet as we know it at a time when Internet Access Providers were trying to change the internet forever for their own narrow profit motives. The rules ensured that the Federal Communication Commission could play a constructive role in ensuring competition, of ideas, products, and services

Recently, the FCC has done an about face, and now proposes an end to these successful net neutrality protections. This would be disastrous, so we recently submitted comments to the FCC addressing why the Open Internet Rules should remain and also highlighting the dangers of the proposed changes.

Help us protect the Open Internet: Another Fight for Net Neutrality Begins

 

The Federal Communications Commission made a dangerous new proposal to end the hard-fought net neutrality protections that internet consumers, innovators, and creators fought for and won back in 2015.

The FCC, under President Trump and Chairman Pai, along with the cable and cell phone companies companies, are trying to mislead the public into believing that the open internet (aka Net Neutrality), and all the creative and competitive benefits that come with it, should be gotten rid of. Trump and Pai are advocating dropping Title II regulation that saved the internet in 2015. Instead of being honest, Chairman Pai and companies are saying they support net neutrality, just not through Title II. They know they are misleading the public, because courts already found that without Title II the FCC has no ability to protect the internet. That's why we had Title II classification in the first place.

Here’s how you can do something about it...

NMR launches law school IP and entrepreneurship clinics list!

As we've written about before there's a major justice gap when it comes to creators and entrepreneurs having access to critical legal services. While we do our best to provide free and low cost legal services, we’re only one organization. That's why we’ve created a national list of law school legal clinics as a resource to creators, entrepreneurs and even other lawyers to help find other legal clinics fighting to fill the justice gap. The clinics on the list typically provide completely free or low cost services depending on if you qualify and they have the capacity to take on new issues. Check out the complete list here.

 

May newsletter: The legal issues today’s journalists, creators, and entrepreneurs share

The legal issues today’s Journalists, Creators, and Entrepreneurs share
In our 9 year history providing legal services on over 1400 individual matters, we’ve tracked a significant convergence in the legal needs of journalists, creators and entrepreneurs. This convergence is the result of the rise in the importance of nonprofit and independent projects and the common use of the internet as the means of distribution. As a result, a common set of core legal issues has emerged among journalists, creators, and early stage tech entrepreneurs.  Click here to check out the top 10 legal issues these groups share, and to learn about ways you can help us meet the growing demand for legal services.
Become a Organizational Supporter!
If you or your organization are already a Supporter, you know the benefits it brings, and and the tremendous impact you make.  If you aren't a Supporter already, what are you waiting for?  Check out the benefits of being a Supporter here.
 
Year Round Clinic for CWSL students!
We're proud to announce that our Internet & Media Law Clinic will now be offered year round at California Western School of Law!  The clinic provides students with experience working one-on-one with Internet & Media law clients in the field, as well as knowledge and skills regarding regulatory and policy work, scholarship, and public education and outreach. This year, clinic students will help us reach a milestone of providing services on our 1400th matter. We remain an independently funded program, so we also want to thank our individual supporters and foundations that allow us to assist clients and train students.
Applications are now open for fall, and close on June 9th!
 

 

New Media Rights Executive Director Art Neill reappointed to FCC Consumer Advisory Committee for a third term

New Media Rights' internet user and consumer advocacy efforts were recognized again this week with the appointment of New Media Rights Executive Director Art Neill to a third term on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC). Neill previously has served as the Co-Chair of the CAC’s Broadband Working Group.  Staff Attorney Teri Karobonik will join Neill, serving as New Media Rights’ alternate representative to the CAC for a second term. The FCC committee works to serve the interests of consumers by soliciting their input during the regulatory process and working to improve consumer access to modern communications services.

 “Our appointment to the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee gives us a place where we can share the concerns of internet users and consumers directly with regulators,” said Neill. “Good public policy starts with actually knowing what’s happening on the ground. New Media Rights focuses its efforts on helping a variety of consumers and creators often left out of conversations about public policy that affects them.”

Executive Director to speak at UC Irvine School of Law Entertainment and Technology law Symposium

New Media Rights Executive Director Art Neill will be speaking at the March 28 UC Irvine School of Law Entertainment and Technology Law Symposium.  Art will be on a panel of experts regarding the FCC's recent decision to implement Open Internet rules by reclassifying broadband under Title II.

February Newsletter -- Getting results: FCC now considering proposal that would actually protect the Open Internet.

In this months newsletter:

The FCC's proposal to reclassify the Internet under Title II is a big win for the Open Internet!
Recently, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed reclassifation of the internet as a Title II communications service.  If adopted February 26, the proposal would give the FCC the legal authority it needs to preserve and protect the Open Internet. Executive Director Art Neill sat down with KPBS to discuss why the Federal Communication Commission's new Open Internet rules are necessary to ensure a free and open internet




For more on the Net Neutrality debate and what it means for you, check out our latest blog post on Net Neutrality here.

Why the FCC's proposal to reclassify the Internet under Title II is a big win for the Open Internet

Recently, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed reclassifation of the internet as a Title II communications service.  The move gives the FCC the legal authority it needs to preserve and protect and preserve the Open Internet.

This is a good thing.  Here's a TV interview we did explaining what's going on.

 

KUSI News - San Diego, CA

You can also listen to a more in depth interview here.

Without this reclassification we face the trade-off of improved profits for already hugely profitable companies, in exchange for the internet as we know it. This trade-off is unacceptable to the creators and consumers we serve.

The nature of the internet as an open, accessible network has allowed individuals and businesses to create technologies and services that have transformed our world.  It also has allowed individuals and organizations to speak and communicate with audiences in unprecedented ways. 

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