Obama’s Network Neutrality Bid Divides Civil Rights Groups

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When it comes to the details of Internet regulation, groups that otherwise have much common ground simply don’t see eye to eye.

The NAACP, the National Urban League and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition sent representatives, including the Rev Jesse Jackson, to tell Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler that they thought President Obama’s call to regulate broadband Internet service as a utility would harm minority communities by stifling investment in underserved areas and entrenching already dominant Internet companies. Meanwhile ColorofChange.org, a black political coalition, and the National Hispanic Media Coalition, for example, support treating Internet access as an essential service like electricity or water -- as President Barack Obama proposed -- while the League of United Latin American Citizens opposes it.

“The civil rights community is like every sector anywhere. While from the outside it seems like a monolith, it is not,” said Cheryl Leanza, a policy adviser for the United Church of Christ Office of Communication. Though she was part of the 11-member group that included Rev Jackson, she asked the chairman to embrace the president’s plan.

Some of the groups that oppose Title II designation, like the Urban League and the League of United Latin American Citizens, have received contributions from organizations affiliated with Internet service providers, like the Comcast Foundation, the charitable organization endowed by Comcast. Parts of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition’s annual symposium on civil rights were conducted at Comcast’s offices in Washington. But those organizations say that the donations or sponsorships do not influence their positions.

Several of those favoring Title II, meanwhile, have received funding from organizations affiliated with companies that support stronger regulation. The National Hispanic Media Coalition conducts events that are sponsored in part by companies like Google and Facebook. A trade organization sponsored by those and other Internet companies, the Internet Association, supports a shift to stricter regulation.


Obama’s Network Neutrality Bid Divides Civil Rights Groups