A Brooklyn rally makes net neutrality about communities, not just companies

Park Slope, Brooklyn, in late October… parents with strollers are eyeing a small crowd on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library. Their painted signs are too small to read from a distance, but it’s easier to see what’s written on the cordons they’ve used to form two lines: FAST LANE and SLOW LANE. To anyone familiar with internet discourse, it’s clear what’s going on: a protest in favor of network neutrality, a contentious issue that’s supposed to be voted on by the Federal Communications Commission.

The "fast lane" refers to companies that could pay Internet service providers for faster service in a world without meaningful rules; the "slow lane" is everyone else. But the signs aren’t just telling people to save the Internet. In the fast lane, they’re a mix of celebrity gossip ("Extra nonsense: Jay-Z, Beyonce, Solange") and sensationalized headlines. In the slow lane, there’s news about Israeli bombings and the shooting of black teenagers Michael Brown and Vonderrick Myers by St. Louis police. A fast lane sign says "riots grip city," its slow-lane equivalent says "community rises up against police brutality." This rally is the prelude to "New York Speaks," an unofficial hearing organized by reform group Common Cause and several other activist organizations. The hearing is meant to let New Yorkers voice their concerns about how the FCC is regulating the internet in general, but there are two major issues on the table: a proposed merger between cable giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable, and an impending net neutrality vote.