NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] "Internet Freedom Coalition" Opposes the Left's Campaign to Regulate the Internet
Now, what -- politically speaking -- do most of the signatories below have in common? Hmmm ... FOLLOW THE MONEY. --Lauren-- NNSquad Moderator - - - For Immediate Release April 26, 2010 Contact: Dave Mohel (703) 548-1160 Phil Kerpen, Coalition Chairman Americans for Prosperity PKerpen@afphq.org (703) 224-3200 Kelly Cobb Americans for Tax Reform kcobb@atr.org (202) 785-0266 Internet Freedom Coalition Opposes the Left's Campaign to Regulate the Internet Over 47,000 Individual Citizens File Comments with FCC Opposing Regulations Poll Shows Americans Oppose Regulation 53% to 27% Coalition of Free-Market and Center-Right Organizations File Comments with FCC United Against Far-Left Regulatory Agenda of "Free Press," Others (Washington, DC) Nearly 50,000 individual citizens have filed official comments opposing government regulation of the Internet, according to the <http://www.internetfreedomcoalition.org/> Internet Freedom Coalition, whose members facilitated citizen comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC is currently conducting an official proceeding to consider whether or not to regulate the Internet for the first time. Just as average citizens have begun to rise up in opposition to government efforts to control other sectors of the American economy, the Obama Administration's efforts to seek regulatory control over the Internet is generating a similar wave of opposition. In addition to this unprecedented outpouring of citizen protest over FCC regulatory overreach, a recent <http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/general_business/ap ril_2010/53_oppose_fcc_regulation_of_the_internet> Rasmussen poll found that a clear majority of Americans oppose Internet regulation, a number that has risen as the issue has become clearer and closer to reality. According to Rasmussen: "Just 27% of Americans now believe the Federal Communications Commission should regulate the Internet like it does television and radio. That marks a 22-point drop in support for federal regulation of the Internet since June 2008." In addition to facilitating official comments by individual citizens, Internet Freedom Coalition member organizations have filed <http://www.internetfreedomcoalition.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IFC_NetN eutrality_Reply-Comments_042610.pdf> Reply Comments on the FCC's "Open Internet" Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proceeding, strongly opposing regulation, and arguing against the rationale presented in earlier comments by organizations such as Free Press, a far-left organization that promotes radical government intervention into the free Internet marketplace. According to the Internet Freedom Coalition comments: "Neither Free Press nor other organizations petitioning for Internet regulations have offered evidence of a market failure or a pattern of abuses. "Free Press has been arguing for nearly a decade that the Internet will face devastating harms unless the government regulates it. And for nearly a decade, exactly the opposite has unfolded. Free Press's hypothetical crisis is merely that, and the Commission has neither the obligation nor the ability to promulgate regulations aimed at alleviating a problem for which it can find no evidence. "Free Press and other proponents of Internet regulations have offered ideology in the place of evidence, and fear in the place of facts. We respectfully urge the Commission to vote against regulating the Internet, and instead allow it to grow unfettered." The Internet Freedom Coalition has also submitted <http://www.internetfreedomcoalition.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IFC_NetN eutrality_SupplementalReplyComments_042610.pdf> Supplemental Reply Comments addressing the issue of FCC's authority to regulate the Internet under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. The <http://www.internetfreedomcoalition.org/> Internet Freedom Coalition is made up of organizations sharing a desire to keep the Internet free from government interference. The IFC Reply Comment Signatories Include: Phil Kerpen Chairman, Internet Freedom Coalition VP for Policy, Americans for Prosperity Clyde Wayne Crews Jr. VP for Policy, Dir. of Technology Studies Competitive Enterprise Institute James Gattuso Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy The Heritage Foundation Jeffrey Mazzella President Center for Individual Freedom Kelly William Cobb Executive Director Media Freedom Project Wayne T. Brough Chief Economist and VP for Research FreedomWorks Foundation Carl Gipson Director, Center for Small Business Washington Policy Center Bartlett D Cleland Director, Center for Technology Freedom Institute for Policy Innovation Mario Lopez President Hispanic Leadership Fund Paul Gessing President Rio Grande Foundation Chuck Muth President Citizen Outreach Grover Norquist President Americans for Tax Reform Duane Parde President National Taxpayers Union Andrew Langer President Institute for Liberty Jordan Marks Executive Director Young Americans for Freedom Tarren Bragdon Chief Executive Officer Maine Heritage Policy Center Dave Trabert President Kansas Policy Institute John McClaughry President Ethan Allen Institute Brett Healy President The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy Jamie Story President Grassroot Institute of Hawaii Susan Gore President Wyoming Liberty Group Francis X. De Luca Executive Director Civitas Institute