Net Neutrality is one of today’s hottest issues, and a Federal Communications Commission plan that could let Internet service providers create fast lanes for some websites and applications and slow lanes for everyone else has attracted hundreds of thousands of responses on the FCC website over the last two months. 

So when the commission’s website crashed – yet again, on Tuesday – the last day to file Net Neutrality comments, my co-fellow Common Cause intern Allison and I crossed DC in a thunderstorm to turn in hard copies of thousands of comments.  We carried Common Cause’s organizational comments along with messages from more than 12,000 of our members through the rain, to join the parade of people raising their perspectives on the issue. 

A free and open Internet is essential for 21^St century democracy, as more and more people turn to the web for their information needs.  Without net neutrality, these users will be at the mercy of the corporations who control the structure of the internet, facing discrimination and even blocking that would directly impact their ability to be active and informed citizens. That’s unacceptable.