On December 14th, the U.S Federal Communications Commission will vote to put an end to its, “net neutrality” rules. These rules are meant to safeguard people’s ability to communicate freely online, ensuring equal access to all information on the Internet. We think the existing net neutrality rules are important and that the FCC should not make these proposed changes. 

For over 21 years, Forum One has worked with organizations around the world to use the power of the Internet to connect people and ideas to solve global problems in ways never before seen. Whether it’s helping drive online donations for humanitarian efforts or creating digital communities of practice for charitable workers across the globe, we use the Internet to create a positive impact for our communities, our customers, and people around the world. 

Today, we take a stand to oppose the dismantling of net neutrality rules. 

The FCC’s plan would give Internet Service Providers (ISPs) the power to choose what sites customers see and use. The changes to net neutrality in the United States would jeopardize the flow of digital information, undermine innovation, and threaten our ability to continue making change for good. 

“Network neutrality—the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data that travels over their networks fairly, without improper discrimination in favor of particular apps, sites or services—is a principle that must be upheld to protect the future of our open Internet. It’s a principle that’s faced many threats over the years, such as ISPs forging packets to tamper with certain kinds of traffic or slowing down or even outright blocking protocols or applications.”

-Electronic Frontier Foundation

Close to 1 million comments from the public and organizations have been submitted to the FCC in the last 30 days alone. We urge you to take a stand as well by:

• Contacting Congress
• Commenting to the FCC on Proceeding 17-108
• Texting ‘resist’ to ‘50409’ and a friendly robot will help you write a message to your representatives urging them to protect net neutrality.

When Tim-Berners Lee invented the World Wide Web, he envisioned a “neutral space where everyone could create, share, debate, innovate, learn and dream.” As we reflect upon all the positive change the organizations we work with have been able to achieve thanks to this approach, we hope that you too will stand with us to protect it.

Further reading: Protect net neutrality and internet freedom by Tim Berners-Lee