Civil Rights Groups, Funded by Telecoms, Back Donald Trump’s Plan to Kill Net Neutrality

Leading Civil Rights groups who for many years have been heavily bankrolled by the telecommunications industry are signaling their support for Donald Trump’s promised rollback of the Obama administration’s network neutrality rules, which prevent internet service providers from prioritizing some content providers over others.

In a little-noticed joint letter released recently, the NAACP, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, OCA (formerly known as the Organization for Chinese Americans), the National Urban League, and other civil rights organizations sharply criticized the “jurisdictional and classification problems that plagued the last FCC” — a reference to the legal mechanism used by the Obama administration to accomplish net neutrality. Instead of classifying broadband as a public utility, the letter states, open internet rules should be written by statute. What does that mean? It means the Republican-led Congress should take control of the process — the precise approach that is favored by industry.