Dear all

A few minutes ago, we published a blog post in support of the U.S. net neutrality rules. We urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not to eliminate the current framework which protects the open internet.

The FCC's proposal would repeal the rules against blocking or throttling lawful content and against paid prioritization of traffic as well as the general conduct rule that seeks to prevent unfair practices by ISPs. We support the rules because they protect access to knowledge. We believe that everybody should have equal access to knowledge and that ISPs should not be allowed to block lawful sources of information online. For people to contribute to Wikipedia they have to be able to access sources of information on the web to reference in articles they edit or for verification. They have to be able to connect to Wikipedia freely in order to edit articles collaboratively and in real time.

The FCC’s proposal to eliminate the net neutrality rules and deregulate ISPs is a drastic step in the wrong direction and threatens access to knowledge, freedom of expression, and collaboration on the web. Without net neutrality, if ISPs are allowed to block, throttle, or de-prioritize traffic unless users or website providers pay them for preferential treatment or delivery of content, a diversity of information and voices online is threatened. Yet, said diversity of voices online as well as the ability to connect freely are essential to Wikimedia’s mission empower people around the world to collect knowledge and share it globally.

You can read our blog post here https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/12/04/net-neutrality-access-to-knowledge/. Please help us spread the word on twitter https://twitter.com/wikimediapolicy/status/937730976855109632.

Best, Jan

==

Jan Gerlach Public Policy Manager Wikimedia Foundation 1 New Montgomery Street, Suite 1600 San Francisco, CA 94104 jgerlach@wikimedia.org @pd_w https://twitter.com/pd_w @wikimediapolicy https://twitter.com/wikimediapolicy