What Is the Future of Net Neutrality Under Trump?
Jessica González of Free Press, a media advocacy group, on equal access to internet content.
From left: Truthdig communications coordinator Sarah Wesley, Jessica González of Free Press, Truthdig Managing Editor Eric Ortiz and Truthdig Assistant Editor Emma Niles.
Since President Trump took office, Americans have been bombarded with daily news of threats to progressive issues — health care, women’s rights and the environment, to name a few.
But one at-risk issue hasn’t been making headlines in the same way: net neutrality — the principle that internet service providers and governments regulating the internet should treat all data on the internet equally, without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.
An open internet is being threatened by the Trump administration: According to an article by the media-advocacy organization Free Press, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, “vigorously opposed rules [the FCC] adopted to protect the rights of internet users” when Pai worked at the FCC under Obama.
Pai already has begun to roll back net neutrality regulations, as well as protection of consumer data on the internet. But Free Press is determined to protect these rights in the Trump era. The organization mobilizes its base of activists and crafts policy proposals to address these kinds of key issues.
Jessica J. González, deputy director and senior counsel for Free Press, sat down with the Truthdig team on Thursday to discuss net neutrality and media independence. Formerly, González was executive vice president and general counsel at the National Hispanic Media Coalition. At Free Press, she also works on media programming and evaluates its impact on the Latino community. Watch the full discussion below:
This week’s “Live at Truthdig” is sponsored by iCitizen, which aims to bolster civic engagement and strengthen relationships among citizens, elected officials and organizations. Along with watching this week’s “Live at Truthdig” discussion, you can participate in iCitizen’s poll on net neutrality (below).
Watch past editions of “Live at Truthdig” here.
—Posted by Emma Niles
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