Posted: | January 24, 2019 03:05 PM |
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From: | Representative Elizabeth Fiedler |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Net Neutrality |
Most people get their internet access from a handful of big companies, including AT&T, Comcast and Verizon. Pennsylvania residents expect that the company that services them will transmit their data, not manipulate it. Yet that expectation, that internet service providers (ISP) must treat all data on the internet equally, net neutrality is no longer the law of our land. On December 14th 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to dismantle the rules of “net neutrality. For Pennsylvania residents, this end to net neutrality has big implications: the company that provides their internet could choose to block them from accessing website for competing companies, interfere with speech that criticizes the provider’s actions, block access to union sites during a labor conflict, or block or dramatically slow down websites as they choose. In 2019, we rely on the internet for so much of our news, communication, interactions with schools, government and companies, purchases, bill paying and many other activities. We need to protect our residents’ equal access to information on the internet. My legislation will make it once again illegal for ISPs to block lawful internet content, impair internet traffic or engage in any other activities that negatively affect the web experience of Pennsylvania residents. We cannot allow practices like paid prioritization to further the already profound digital divide experienced across our communities.. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation so that we can maintain internet fairness within the Commonwealth. |
Introduced as HB544