During the summer of 2016, the United Nations declared that access to the Internet is a basic human right. It saw any attempt to limit it as a violation of free speech. Yet now the United States threatens this right enshrined in the First Amendment by allowing Big Money to dictate net neutrality.
Big Telecom companies like Verizon are taking aim at the Save the Internet Act by using the most powerful weapon in their arsenal: their wallets. They have given nearly $1 million in bribes to Senators including Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) and Roger Wicker (R-MS), who are leading a bogus “working group” on net neutrality legislation. Given past comments made by Wicker – the chair of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transpiration Committee – regarding his opposition to the Save the Internet Act, it appears the group aims to fulfill Big Telecom’s wishes by passing weaker legislation.
Sinema, despite publicly supporting net neutrality during her congressional campaign in 2014, was the only Democratic senator who did not co-sponsor the Save the Internet Act. Her outraged constituents released a crowdfunded billboard to call out her hypocrisy. The bill has already passed the House, but it will need the support of Sinema and a handful of Republican senators to become law.
The entire situation reeks of corruption. We need to ensure that our basic rights and freedoms, including fair access to the Internet, are protected from corporate bribes. Tell corporations that our money is not to be used to bribe politicians! #GetMoneyOut