If there is one place where the internet might be more relevant than anywhere outside of Silicon Valley, it very well may be Champaign-Urbana.
With so many tech wizards spending time at the University of Illinois, it’s good to know that Champaign’s Mayor Deb Feinen is both interested in and actively fighting for open Internet protections, something that many in C-U find to be of the utmost importance. As such Mayor Feinen, in conjunction with others, has penned a letter to the Federal Communications Commission outlining her concerns.
For more information on the cause, and the letter sent by Mayor Feinen, check out the City of Champaign‘s press release below:
Mayor Feinen Submits Joint Letter to the FCC Calling for Open Internet Protections
Today Champaign Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen joined mayors from across the country to support actions to protect and promote an open internet for all. Mayor Feinen, along with the mayors of New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and 45 other cities, sent an open letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calling for the FCC to maintain and enforce existing network neutrality rules. The FCC’s current rules ensure openness and equity by prohibiting the prioritization or blocking of some internet content at the expense of others.
“Ensuring open, equal access to the internet for everyone is critically important and makes up the founding principles of our own local UC2B project,” says Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen. “The current net neutrality rules ensure a level playing field for all internet content – regardless of the user or the provider. Today I stand with my fellow mayors across the country and call for the FCC to maintain and enforce the 2015 Open Internet Order and to support its principles of openness, freedom, and innovation for all Americans.”
The letter, addressed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, reinforces the nondiscrimination principles first called for in a 2014 U.S. Conference of Mayors resolution, including:
- Commitment to transparency;
- The free flow of information over the internet;
- No blocking of lawful websites;
- No unreasonable discrimination of lawful network traffic; and
- No paid prioritization