Ahead of FCC open meeting, call for evaluation of zero-rating plans to be informed by a transparent, open process
WASHINGTON – Today, Cogent Communications was one of 37 companies and 21 grassroots NGOs that sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requesting an open, public process to inform its evalu-ation of the zero-rating plans offered by Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
Signatories to the letter included 37 businesses that support a free and open Internet, including Cogent, as well as companies such as Pinterest, Etsy, Vimeo, Automattic, Yelp, Cogent, Level 3, Medium, Mozilla, Union Square Ventures, Tumblr, Vimeo and Kickstarter. 21 civil society groups representing diverse constituencies, including Cogent as well as groups such as Center for Media Justice, 18 Million Rrising.org, Center for Rural Strategies, Engine Advocacy, Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, Daily Kos, and Access Now, also signed on.
The letter’s signers reference the FCC’s open public process for the net neutrality ruling last year that saw nearly four million individuals make their voices heard. The letter was sent to the FCC before the Commission’s open meeting this Wednesday, May 25.
The letter states:
“In the Open Internet Order, the FCC declined to issue a bright-line rule against zero-rating, noting a lack of consensus on the issue in the record. However, in the time since the Order was released, ISPs have created a broad enough set of test cases that a decision on each of them would have much the same effect as a new rule, only without the same public participation and transparency. These deci-sions are too important to happen behind closed doors.”
The full letter and list of signatories can be found here: http://www.stayopenfcc.org/letter.pdf
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