Today, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (“MMTC”) announced that it, along with 24 National Organizations representing the interests of minorities and women across the country, filed comments before the Federal Communications Commission regarding its further inquiry into two underdeveloped issues in the Open Internet proceeding.
According to David Honig, President and Executive Director of MMTC, the groups filing in this proceeding are “committed to preserving a free and open Internet and [have] long supported the FCC’s four existing open Internet principles in addition to its proposed sixth principle of transparency.” He cautioned against application of the Commission’s fifth principle on non-discrimination, however, and “emphasize[d] that the FCC has both a legal and moral duty to ensure that its proposed rules do not – in their very ‘neutrality’ – lock into place and perpetuate the vast and current racial disparities in broadband access, adoption, and informed use.”
Honig was joined on the call by Jason LLorenz, Executive Director of the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (“HTTP”), an organization representing 20 Latino-focused groups across the country, who noted that HTTP also feels “that rigid net neutrality regulations [are] not the way to bring the benefits of broadband to the Hispanic community.”
Both Honig and Llorenz, as representatives of all the organizations that signed onto these comments, “propose a consumer-focused and transparency-based approach to ensure the Internet remains free and open.” They insisted that, “because of the inherent ‘shaming culture’ of the Internet, we do not need draconian enforcement mechanisms to protect consumers.”
Jay Jay Ghatt is also editor at Techyaya.com, founder of the JayJayGhatt.com and JayJayGhatt.com where she teaches online creators how to navigate digital entrepreneurship and offers Do-It-For-You Blogging Service. She manages her lifestyle sites BellyitchBlog, Jenebaspeaks and JJBraids.com and is the founder of BlackWomenTech.com 200 Black Women in Tech On Twitter. Her biz podcast 10 Minute Podcast is available on iTunes and Player.fm. Follow her on Twitter at @Jenebaspeaks. Buy her templates over at her legal and business templates on Etsy shop!
