Alex Nogales

[Commentary] Facing discrimination and unjust laws, for Latinos, the Internet has played a critical role in the movement for equality in this country. Battles were fought over an Internet with a level playing field that is now in jeopardy. Our ability to raise an equal voice online is under attack.

Network neutrality rules will do a few things to protect the online rights of consumers:

• Ban ISPs from blocking our access to lawful websites on the Internet;
• Ban ISPs from adopting a paid prioritization system that would create fast lanes for the wealthy and slow lanes for the rest of us;
• Protect Latinos, other people of color and low-income individuals who are more likely to use wireless connections to access the Internet, by enforcing these bans equally on wireless devices and wired broadband connections;
• Prevent ISP discrimination before it happens, and not after the fact; and
• Regulate ISPs as utilities by reclassifying broadband as a Title II service, the only sure way that the FCC can sustain legal challenges to its authority.

My friend Marty Chavez of the Ibarra Strategy Group and the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP) responded to a statement I recently made highlighting his participation in a very unbalanced event, hosted on July 9, 2014 by the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute and sponsored by Verizon, AT&T and Comcast, where he and others opposed strong Open Internet rules.

I had questioned whether or not it is appropriate for him to simultaneously represent the interests of corporate clients while asserting that he is working on behalf of the Latino community.

Of the many fabrications, Marty said that ‘most Latino organizations’ oppose the Federal Communications Commission using the sound legal authority found in Title II of the Communications Act to restrict blocking or discrimination online. This is patently false. A number of highly respected Latino organizations have sided with the community and come out in favor of strong Open Internet rules based on Title II authority.

In response to the Capitol Hill briefing on network neutrality hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute and sponsored by Verizon, AT&T and Comcast on July 10:

“Some of the panelists have well-documented ties to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that stand to gain the most if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proceeds with its proposed rules for a paid fast lane. Indeed, one panelist, my friend, Martin Chavez, who spoke on the panel on behalf of the Hispanic Telecommunications and Technology Partnership (HTTP), is both a Senior Advisor to HTTP and a Consultant at the Ibarra Strategy Group, a lobbying firm that counts Verizon amongst its clientele. Let me be very clear – HTTP is nothing more than an industry front-group that is at best misinformed and at worst intentionally distorting facts as it actively opposes efforts to better serve the communications needs of Latinos.”