After a disaster of mid-term elections for the Obama Administration, Mr. President got back in the good graces of many by announcing his support of net neutrality, keeping the Internet equally regulated. Some major corporations agree.
Believe it or not, many major corporations support net neutrality. These include Ford Motors, Visa, UPS (United Parcel Service), even Bank of America. These companies urged the FCC for fair, but strict broadband regulations. They’re not going to say it aloud. In fact, when asked, they’ve denied supporting net neutrality. But there is a corporate based advocacy group called Ad Hoc Telecommunications Users Committee. This committee met with the FCC three times. Before the visit, the committee must submit information about it. Through this, we find out Ford, Visa, UPS, and Bank of America are affiliated with this committee. We also find out all four sent representatives to such meetings: UPS sent a senior vice-president, Bank of America sent a senior vice-president, Visa sent a government relations leader and Ford sent a Washington counsel. The FCC is obligated to report the meeting subject matter. Guess what it was for these meetings? Subjects included, ‘protecting and promoting the open Internet’ and ‘terminating access monopolies’. Sounds a lot like net neutrality to me.
Why would they want to keep their support for this issue secret? The majority of Americans are for net neutrality, on both sides of the political aisle. They may have some powerful corporate executives and stockbrokers who disagree, but can’t we at least agree to disagree? I’m also aware Bank of America doesn’t exactly have the best reputation right now, especially among middle Americans. Wouldn’t coming out in support of net neutrality change that? But there is the cynic in me that asking why these mega, mega conglomerates are supporting this cause? And if they’re supporting it, should we?