Last year, the FCC voted to end net neutrality—a set of rules that kept internet traffic more or less free and democratic. However, Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is out to change that.
He announced on Monday that he’s filing a discharge petition as part of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) on May 9, in order to get a Senate vote on the issue.
The good news is that the petition only needs 30 lawmakers to co-sign for a vote, at which point it only needs a simple majority to move forward. As The Daily Dot notes, 50 senators are already on board, and CRA only needs one more Republican to hop on the free Internet bandwagon. Mind you, to liberate the Internet to it’s pre-FCC f*ckery status, or dare I say it, make the Internet great again, the CRA would also need to go through the House of Representatives.
In the meantime, Internet activists have made it easy for you to get in touch with your local lawmakers to tell them to support the CRA. They’ve also set up a digital campaign called “Red Alert,” which recruits websites and private users to post “alerts” that direct others to put the pressure on Congress to get behind the CRA.
