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NY & MT to ISPs: No Net Neutrality? No State Contracts!

South Dakota’s Internet providers assure us that they’ll play fair and stick with net neutrality, even though the Trump corporatocrats have ripped up net neutrality in their campaign against democracy. Perhaps South Dakota could hold its Internet providers to their word by denying state contracts to any Internet service provider that doesn’t keep their networks equally open to all users.

That’s what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is doing:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed an executive order protecting net neutrality in New York on Wednesday, making it the second state to issue such a rule after the Federal  Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to repeal the open internet regulations late last year.

The order directs New York’s government not to enter into contracts with internet service providers unless the providers abide by net neutrality rules, which require they treat all web traffic equally.

“The FCC’s dangerous ruling goes against the core values of our democracy, and New York will do everything in our power to protect net neutrality and the free exchange of ideas,” Cuomo said in a statement.

“With this executive order, we reaffirm our commitment to freedom and democracy and help ensure that the internet remains free and open to all,” he continued [Julia Manchester, “Cuomo Signs Executive Order Protecting Net Neutrality in New York,” The Hill, 2018.01.24]. 

Lest you think this is just coastal communism, the first state to take this bold step to protect us little guys’ access to the Internet was Montana:

Governor Steve Bullock today signed an executive order to protect net neutrality in Montana by requiring that successful recipients of state contracts adhere to internet neutrality principles.

Standing alongside a group of computer science students at the same high school he attended growing up, Governor Bullock said,“for as long as you, or I, or anyone in this room has used the internet, we’ve had certain expectations about how things work. We’ve had access to a free and open internet. But a free and open internet is no longer guaranteed. The loss of internet neutrality principles threatens the future of the students standing in this very room.”

“There has been a lot of talk around the country about how to respond to the recent decision by Federal Communications Commission to repeal net neutrality rules, which keep the internet free and open. It’s time to actually do something about it,”said Governor Bullock. “This is a simple step states can take to preserve and protect net neutrality. We can’t wait for folks in Washington DC to come to their senses and reinstate these rules” [Nathan Kosted, “Governor Bullock Implements 1st of Its Kind Net Neutrality Protections,” The Montana Post, 2018.01.22].

State governments have a compelling interest in taking this step and more to preserve equal access for their own important public documents and services, not to mention all of their citizens, and to keep wealthy elites from buying up bandwidth and crowding the rest of us off the Internet. Sign up, Governor Daugaard! Save the Internet with a pen and the power of the purse!

4 Comments

  1. jerry 2018-01-26 13:16

    All this proves one thing, Democrats are always able to balance the books and to provide full services to their constituents. In short, Democrats know how to govern.

  2. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2018-01-29 06:02

    …and govern in the interests of the people who elect them.

  3. jerry 2018-02-05 21:34

    Verizon says the tax scam goes into their greedy pockets. What will the potential governors candidates have to say about that? https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/01/verizon-wont-be-using-tax-cut-to-boost-spending-on-network-upgrades/

    NOem was instrumental in the tax scam, let us see what she has to say about this.

    “Tax-reform legislation will have a positive impact to cash flow from operations in 2018 of approximately $3.5 billion to $4 billion,” Verizon said.

    Verizon promised that workers will “share in the company’s success” with stock shares totaling around $400 million for 155,000 employees. But the tax savings “will be used primarily to strengthen Verizon’s balance sheet.”” It was never about workers, it was always a scam.

  4. jerry 2018-02-06 09:26

    New Jersey is the latest to protect net neutrality. Common denominator is that so far only Democratic governors of states have done so. Roypublican governors are still standing there with their hands out for the corruption cash love that the telecom’s can give for those who are compliant. http://thehill.com/policy/technology/372409-new-jersey-governor-signs-net-neutrality-order

    While your molasses coated server sends you the round and round thingy trying to connect (slightly better than dial up) to live stream’s like Netflix or market information, thank Daugaard and the rogue roypublican legislature for making that happen for their own pockets.

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