Why it’s time for Texas to show support for net neutrality

[Commentary] Network neutrality matters to any Texan who relies on the internet to access journalism, stream videos and stay in touch with friends and family. It’s also particularly critical to Texan startups and entrepreneurs, who rely on the internet to reach new customers without meddling from big, established players.

At Mozilla, we’ve been collecting signatures, comments and voicemails from Americans to share with the FCC. The results have been overwhelming: We’ve already received more than 100,000 signatures, 21,000 comments and 50 hours of voicemails. So, what can Texans do? Speak up during the 90-day public comment period, which runs through mid-August. A broad network of individuals and organizations are preparing an official brief to submit to the Federal Communications Commission that will express our concerns with their policy during this open comment period. We’re also engaging with civic leaders and policymakers here in Texas to discuss the importance of net neutrality. We need to make the coming weeks count — for Texas, all Americans and the internet.

[Surman is executive director of Mozilla. Yokubaitis is co-founder and co-CEO of Data Foundry in Austin.]