October 21, 2009:  The Media and Democracy Coalition (MDC) released a letter today that shows strong support for network neutrality from forty local groups that represent people of color, low-income consituences and other historically marginalized communities. 

The letter, sent to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, urges the Chairman to remain firm in his support for network neutrality rules, which would prohibit Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from discriminating content on the Internet.  The FCC is expected to issue its net neutrality proposal Thursday, October 22.

Meanwhile, nearly two dozen public interest organizations from more than twelve states sent another letter to Congress, urging key members to support the net neutrality proceding at the Federal Communications Commission.

The groups expressed disappointment with an earlier Congressional statement, signed by members of Congress from their states, that expressed a lack of support for net neutrality rules at the FCC.   

Cable and phone companies that want to upset the free flow of information over the Internet have been heavily lobbying the FCC and Congress to weaken or scrap the rules.  

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September 22, 2009, The Media and Democracy (MDC) marked the national release of A Public Interest Internet Agenda at a panel discussion on OneWebDay. Blair Levin, Executive Director of the FCC's Omnibus Broadband Initiative provided the keynote address. The panel called for “bold ideas” for the future of the Internet, and featured MDC board members, Amalia Deloney of MAG-Net and Amina Fazlullah of U.S.PIRG who discussed some of the bold ideas featured among the 36 specific polices included in A Public Interest Internet Agenda.

U.S.PIRG also coordinated the release A Public Interest Internet Agenda in 29 cities around the country to coincide with OneWebDay.

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September 21, 2009, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski gave a speech proposing that net neutrality be formally adopted as commission rules and that the rules explicitly apply to any Internet service, even if delivered over wireless networks.

Media and Democracy Coalition (MDC) members Free Press, New America Foundation and Public Knowledge have all released statements in support of Chairman Genachowski’s remarks. MDC is happy to see these positive moves on the net neutrality front!

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August 12, 2009, The Media and Democracy Coalition released A Public Interest Internet Agenda to the media advocacy community today!

In early 2009, organizations from rural, urban, and Native communitiescame together to develop an agenda to bring high quality, affordablebroadband to all U.S. residents. In forums from Fort Mitchell, Kentuckyto Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, these groups explored policy solutionsthat would allow their communities to harness the power and possibilityof the Internet. Through a process of collaboration and consensusbuilding among these diverse communities and the nation’s leadingpublic interest media advocacy organizations, an aggressive publicinterest framework for broadband policy was born.

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August 12, 2009, The Media and Democracy Coalition sent this letter to the FCC today urging the agency do a better job of including public interest voices in upcoming broadband workshops.

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On July 17 2009, Media and Democracy Coalition members joined with allies from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) and TeleCommunity in a letterto the National Telecommunications and Information Administration(NTIA) to make changes to the guidelines for broadband stimulus funds.

In our letter,we urge the NTIA to amend the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) inways that would make it easier for community broadband projects to befunded.  

MDC previously filed comments with the NTIA as the agency considered how to design the program.  You can read thecomments here. Executive Director Beth McConnell also testified on the need foraccountability and transparency in the program at a March 2009 NTIAhearing.  Read a transcript of the entire testimony.

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On June 8th 2009, the Media and Democracy Coalition filed brief comments with the Federal Communications Commission on the National Broadband Plan, which will be issued by the FCC in February 2010. 

The comments summarize recommendations MDC members will make in a fullreport, to be released in July 2009.  This forthcoming report wasdeveloped from the ground-up, involving local community groups in thepolicy setting process from the start, and linking them with allies atDC-based policy groups.  The comments and report stress:

• the Internet as tool to ensure the fundamental rights of all to communicate;
• the need for verifiable and transparent data to drive the broadband policy process;
• the importance of locally-owned networks, as well as competition;
• the need for wiser use of public resources such as spectrum and rights of way;
• that digital inclusion programs must be a critical part of U.S. broadband policy.

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On Monday, March 23, the Coalition joined with Common Cause, Public Knowledge, Reclaim the Media,and several local partners to release a report which argues that the$350 million broadband mapping program required by the recent stimulusbill would be set back if there is widespread participation in it by agroup called Connected Nation.

Read the press release and download the full report in .pdf format.