Women's Media Center's Statement on Net Neutrality

WASHINGTON D.C. - The Women's Media Center is in full support of the recent proposal by the FCC Chairman to “preserve the internet as an open platform for innovation and free expression.”

We applaud Chairman Tom Wheeler's decision to reconsider his plans for a two-tiered system, and instead, ensure that the new rules in place prevent Internet Service Providers from discriminating against content providers, users or block data. We are against giving the power to Internet Service Providers to pick and choose content and determine the value of online content providers based solely on who can afford to pay the higher prices. As a result we are in full support of plans to treat both wired and wireless services as a utility.

The Internet was initially built as an open mode of communication. In the 1990's, it grew to become an eCommerce platform, giving way to innovative companies like AOL, Facebook, Google, YouTube and Etsy. News outlets began using it to reach broader audiences and to include diverse stories. These companies would not have been successful if there existed a tiered Internet. Today, social media allows those that have been marginalized and discriminated against – especially women and people of color -- to tell their own stories using various modes of multimedia.

Women use the Internet for basic communication – like the telephone.  We count on the Internet for communications related to every aspect of our lives, including economic stability, political action, news, health care, education, family and in some cases for safety as a method for support in moving families away from domestic violence. A two-tiered Internet would have placed women and minorities into a marginalized and discriminatory position.

We applaud the FCC in their support of full and equal access to the Internet for all – regardless of income and the classification of the Internet as a common carrier and consider Internet Service Providers as communication services.

The Women’s Media Center works to make women and girls visible and powerful in the media through strategic programs that transform the media landscape, and that include media training, media monitoring and activism, media reports, media programs, an expert database (WMC SheSource) and special initiatives.

For more information, contact Cristal Williams-Chancellor cristal@womensmediacenter.com or 202-587-1636.

***