Scumbag ALEC is at it again

This time with trying to prevent city broadband internet competition. Free market my ass. From Credo Action.

Imagine having affordable, lightning-fast Internet access at your home that is 50-100 times faster than the national average.¹ That could soon be a reality, but the shadowy American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is working to make sure it never happens.² Nearly 20 states already have laws on the books stopping cities from providing fast, publicly-owned Internet access – and other states could soon follow suit. President Obama just urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to make it illegal for states to block cities from providing affordable and fast Internet access – and the FCC is expected to make a decision next week.

Tell the FCC: Protect our access to fast and affordable Internet service. Click here to sign the petition.

ALEC – a shadowy corporate front group that works to enact discriminatory voter ID laws, weaken gun safety laws and eliminate environmental regulations – is now pressuring state legislatures around the country to ban cities from offering broadband Internet access. ALEC is pushing its anti-municipal broadband agenda through model legislation it has developed, which one municipal broadband advocate described as “the kind of language one would expect to see if the goal is to protect politically powerful cable and telephone company monopolies.”³ Many perennial funders and members of ALEC, including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner,⁴ stand to gain financially from these state laws because they eliminate the possibility of competition from city-run broadband services.

According to recent surveys, nearly a quarter of Americans don’t have broadband Internet access at home.⁵ By pre-empting state laws that block municipal broadband, the FCC could help cities and municipalities provide fast Internet access to millions of Americans who don’t have it, and help create less expensive and faster Internet access options for tens of millions of others.

The FCC is planning to make a decision on President Obama’s proposal to protect municipal broadband next week.⁶ Before then, let’s make sure the commissioners know that Americans want more access to fast and affordable Internet service, not less.

Sign the petition to the FCC: Protect our access to fast and affordable Internet service. Click here to sign the petition.

Thanks for fighting for faster Internet access.

Josh Nelson, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

1. "Obama calls for cities to build government-run high-speed internet," Vox, January 14, 2015.
2. "How ALEC Helps Big Telecom Change State Laws for Corporate Gain," PR Watch, February 14, 2014.
3. " Who wants competition? Big cable tries outlawing municipal broadband in Kansas," Ars Technica, January 13, 2014.
4. "List of members of the American Legislative Exchange Council," Wikipedia.
5. "Census: Computer ownership, internet connection varies widely across U.S.," Pew Research Center, September 19, 2014.
6. "FCC To Vote Chattanooga, Wilson Petitions on Feb. 26," Multichannel News, January 14, 2015.