Former FCC Commissioner Copps Available for Comment on Verizon’s Net Neutrality Challenge

    Media Contact
  • Dale Eisman

Michael Copps, who in a decade of service on the Federal Communications Commission emerged as one of the nation’s leading proponents of net neutrality, will be available to speak with reporters today, (9/9/13) following the conclusion of oral arguments in the case of Verizon vs. FCC. He can be reached at 617-496-0337, or mediaanddemocracyreform@commoncause.org.

Copps now serves as special adviser to Common Cause’s Media and Democracy Reform Initiative.

Verizon vs. FCC background:

Lawyers for Verizon are slated to be in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington on Monday, seeking authority to hit consumers with special fees for access to popular websites and applications. Common Cause is rallying support nationwide for maintaining “net neutrality” and an open Internet.

Network neutrality is critical to maintaining and strengthening the innovative spirit that has made the Internet an engine of prosperity in the 21st Century. And because so much of the nation’s political discourse now occurs online, Americans need open Internet protections to guarantee their rights to speak, connect, and organize in cyberspace.

“Goodbye Open Internet?” a new report issued by Common Cause, spotlights how Verizon has invested millions in lobbying and electing key political leaders to strengthen its hand in the battle for control of the Internet.