Brindisi joins New York Attorney General Schneiderman’s call to stop FCC’s net neutrality decision today
Brindisi “This is A Sad Moment For American Consumers”; Says Process For Public Comment Was Tainted, And Today’s Vote Should Not Have Been Held
Assemblyman Notes Decision To Overturn Net Neutrality Could Have A Chilling Effect On Free Speech
Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi of Utica today joined New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s call for a lawsuit to overturn the Federal Communications decision earlier today to overturn net neutrality regulations.
The decision in a vote by the FCC means Internet Service Providers will have the power to decide which websites they offer customers, or whether some websites or services can be provided at a higher cost than others.
In a letter to Schneiderman, Brindisi called the FCC’s decision “a sad moment for American consumers.” He says the fact that about two million public comments on the proposed scrapping of net neutrality appear to have come from stolen identities shows the process was deeply flawed and possibly illegal, and the vote should have been postponed.
The following is the text of Brindisi’s letter to Schneiderman:
Dear Attorney General Schneiderman:
I am writing to you in strong support of your plans to sue the Federal Communications Commission over its decision today to end net neutrality regulations.
This is a sad moment for American consumers, who are likely to see significant changes with the rollback of net neutrality laws. It is another in a series of recent actions that reward large corporations, who now will be able to charge Internet users more to access certain websites if they choose. It also is likely to have a chilling effect on free speech, since it permits Internet Service Providers to make choices over which websites are favored, and which are delivered at faster speed.
It is simply egregious that the process under which public comments for today’s vote on net neutrality were gathered was hijacked, and resulted in about two million comments posted from false identities that had been stolen. As you point out, this is a criminal act in New York State, and this makes the FCC’s decision today an illegal one in my opinion.
If there is anything I can do to help you fight this decision by the FCC, please feel free to contact me. Thanks for all you are doing to help Internet users in New York state.
Sincerely, Anthony Brindisi, Member of Assembly