April 25, 2024
A Statement from Brenda Victoria Castillo, President & CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC)
NHMC Applauds FCC Move to Protect Latines via Net Neutrality Regulations
Today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to reinstate net neutrality regulations via a majority vote courtesy of Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner Geoff Starks, and Commissioner Anna Gomez. NHMC has been a long time supporter of net neutrality from its early origins as principles to the restoration of the Open Internet Order today.
The idea of an open internet is fundamental to NHMC's belief that access to an open internet is a human right. Protecting the open internet means that NHMC has fought alongside our allies in the courts as a lead litigant against the Trump FCC's repeal of the 2015 Open Internet Order, in Congress as we supported Senator Markey and Congresswoman Matsui's many efforts over the years to codify net neutrality rules into law, and at the Federal Communications Commission as the change in political power has regenerated a fight to protect consumers from harmful ISP practices.
Today the FCC reinstates three bright line rules: no blocking, no throttling, and no paid prioritization. NHMC remains a vigorous supporter of those three bright line rules, largely because we have seen first-hand the need for specific protections. Those in opposition to these rules claim that they are unnecessary to protect consumers. However, the most readily available data tells a different story. In 2017, NHMC filed a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA Request) requesting consumer complaints under the 2015 Open Internet Order, with responses from the ombudsperson and carriers, to shed light on the critical value of the Net Neutrality protections that the FCC is working to reinstate. After a long battle with the Trump-era FCC, more than 47,000 consumer complaints were released to NHMC, with over 68,000 pages of consumer complaint documents alone.
In fact, at the time of the 2017 repeal of the 2015 Open Internet Order, the Trump FCC insisted there was “virtually no quantifiable evidence of consumer harm.” Thus, despite the severe disregard for over 47,000+ complaints that were filed from when the 2015 Open Internet Order was put into effect to when it was repealed, there is hard evidence that violations of the bright line rules were absolutely happening, and explicit rules to enforce against those violations were necessary.
With today’s vote, the Commission is exercising its authority to fulfill its Congressional mandate to ensure that all people living in the United States have reliable, affordable, and safe access to the internet regardless of their race, gender, geographic location, or internet service provider.
Yours in Movement,
Brenda Victoria Castillo
President & CEO
National Hispanic Media Coalition
