Civic Engagement

Democrat Sens are urging the Federal Communications Commission to extend the public comment period on its proposal to scrap the network neutrality rules. Fifteen Democrats, led by Sen Ed Markey (D-MA), wrote a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. They asked that he provide more time for comments, citing the unprecedented number of comments on the rules.

To date, Pai's “Restoring Internet Freedom” proposal to roll back Obama-era net neutrality measures aimed at creating a level playing field for internet companies has received more than 16 million comments, more than any other FCC item in history. The previous record happened during the FCC’s last net neutrality proceedings in 2014, in which the public filed about 4 million comments on the matter. The lawmakers also noted that the comment period for approving net neutrality in 2014 was 60 days. Chairman Pai has only allowed a 30-day comment period for his plan to rollback the rules. “This proceeding has the potential to impact all Americans and as the expert agency, you should ensure that the Commission provides ample time to ensure all voices are heard,” the senators wrote.

This report introduces students to the field of civic technology and the possibility that it could help to amplify citizen engagement. Rather than providing an exhaustive academic study of this topic or an in-depth exploration of a single organization, the case begins with a broad overview of the field (and several of the debates affecting it) and then contains a series of vignettes about three organizations in this space: the City of Chicago, Neighborly, and the City of Boston’s Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics. It aims to stimulate discussion around three core questions.

• First, what is civic technology, and what are some of the core forces, tensions, and debates shaping the field?
• Second, what are some of the most important considerations for civic technology organizations that are aiming to engage citizens in the democratic process and governmental decision-making?
• Third, where does civic technology—and, along with it, our conceptions of citizenship and engagement—go from here?

First, AT&T joined the Day of Action because we too support an open internet. We are and have always been against blocking, censorship and discriminatory throttling. We support transparency in internet practices. The activists were confounded. I’ll be honest, I don’t get the confusion.

AT&T has for years consistently supported the core tenets of an open internet in our advocacy, in our business practices and even in sworn testimony before Congress. But that didn’t matter. Far from embracing our support for internet freedom, the Fight for the Future crowd declared our support a deliberate effort to mislead the public, all because we share a common goal but do not embrace common means. FFF went as far as to mean-girl us by proclaiming that we couldn’t even sit at the open internet table. Is it ironic to pursue an agenda of openness through exclusionary tactics, or is it just me? If the Day of Action proved anything, it’s that there is broad consensus that the internet in America should always be a place for free expression of ideas and an open exchange of information free from censorship and blocking. The disagreement is really quite narrow.

The groups behind the July 12 internet Day of Action have launched "Team Internet," the next phase of their protest against the proposed reversal of the Federal Communications Commission's common carrier (Title II) classification of internet access. Taking a page from the "distributed organization" model of Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, the groups say that next phase will include speaking out at meetings and town halls and pressing local officeholders. The Day of Action was targeted to Washington—both the FCC and Congress—and that remains the focus, but through coordinated self-organizing that enlists "neighbors, colleagues, family and friends," to expand their protest footprint.Coordinating Team Internet is the pro-Title II team of Demand Progress, Fight for the Future and Free Press Action Fund. They are looking to tap into what they say was the nearly half a million participants in the Day of Action.

Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) criticized the Federal Communications Commission for failing to turn over its internal analysis of the DDoS attacks that hit the FCC's public comment system.

The FCC declined to provide its analysis of the attacks to Gizmodo, which had filed a Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) request for a copy of all records related to the FCC analysis "that concluded a DDoS attack had taken place." The FCC declined the request, saying that its initial analysis on the day of the attack "did not result in written documentation." “If the FCC did suffer a DDoS attack and yet created no written materials about it, that would be deeply irresponsible and cast doubt on how the FCC could possibly prevent future attacks," said Sen Wyden. "On the other hand, if FCC is playing word games to avoid responding to FoIA requests, it would clearly violate Chairman Ajit Pai’s pledge to increase transparency at the FCC.” Sen Wyden also said that the FCC's response to the FoIA request raised "legitimate questions about whether the agency is being truthful when it claims a DDoS attack knocked its commenting system offline.”

FCC Chairman Pai’s response: “The FCC has provided a written response to Congress detailing the attack, and we have never said that we have no written materials about it. Rather, the documents that were not produced in response to the FOIA request cannot be provided, among other reasons, because of security and privacy concerns.”

Following the 2016 election, which had one of the largest gender gaps in history, women are more likely than men to say they are paying increased attention to politics. And while far more Democrats than Republicans say they have attended a political event, rally or protest since the election, Democratic women – especially younger women and those with postgraduate degrees – are among the most likely to have participated in such a political gathering.

The latest national survey by Pew Research Center, conducted June 27 to July 9 among 2,505 adults, finds that 52% of Americans say they are paying more attention to politics since Donald Trump’s election; 33% say they are paying about the same amount of attention, while 13% say they are paying less attention to politics. The new survey also finds that, nearly nine months after the election, most people (59%) say it is “stressful and frustrating” to talk about politics with people who have a different opinion of Trump than they do; just 35% find such conversations “interesting and informative."

The US government has received more than 9 million public comments on rolling back network neutrality regulations, a record response to this hot-button issue that both sides argue plays an essential role in who gets Internet access. The first public comment period ended July 17, and now a one-month rebuttal period is underway. Already, about another million additional comments have been submitted. Those totals were boosted by July 12's online 'Day of Action' conducted by tech companies and liberal privacy rights organizations that support the net neutrality regulations, as well as opposing comments from those in favor of overturning the rules.

Prior to the July 12 protest, news outlets were warning their readers to “prepare to be assaulted” by the extent of the protest, after major players like Google, Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon announced their participation in the Day of Action. But as many of those same news outlets have since pointed out, the aforementioned major players barely did anything to promote the protest where it counted: on their most visible and highly trafficked homepages and within their mobile apps. “If you blinked, you missed yesterday’s net neutrality protest,” Recode declared, while Politico hedged that it “may have flown under some radars.”

Protests in support of net neutrality have occurred almost semiannually since 2010, with major events taking place in 2012 and 2014 to comment on pending regulations. The 2012 net neutrality blackout, which successfully campaigned against the restrictive Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), was particularly notable because major websites like Wikipedia, Reddit, Tumblr, and Google went dark or displayed prominent site interruptions for the full day. These stances were dramatic — especially compared with the mild, unintrusive efforts made during the July 12 protest.

If you care about robust broadband, if you care about being able to use the internet without your service provider compromising your privacy, picking winners and losers online, if you want infrastructure built in your communities, then you cannot remain on the sidelines. File comments in our open internet proceeding, let your federal Reps or Sens hear about what you think and what you need. Make your voice heard. I, for one, welcome hearing from you, consider your voices and opinions significant and view what you file as substantial. We are not doing our jobs as regulators, if we aren’t listening to you, we are not representing your interests if we fail to understand or consider what you are facing or what concerns you.

I am here tonight in Marietta (OH) because I am using my two ears and will now limit what else I say with my one mouth. My unwavering promise to you this evening, is that I will take what you say back to Washington (DC), and ensure that your stories are told and that they are part of our public policy debate.

Offering up more proof that the term “cable” now strikes a very anticonsumerist tone, consumer group Fight For the Future is now labeling any Congressional representative who supports the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission’s quest to dismantle Title II internet regulation—or isn’t doing anything to stop it—as “Team Cable.” The group is now counting votes and public comments, putting representatives into two “camps.” Any representative scoring too low on Fight For the Future’s “congressional scorecard” gets put into the “Team Cable” camp and is subject to an unflattering crowdfunded billboard campaign.

The group plans to give the treatment first to House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in her home state. “The congressional scorecard divides Congress into two camps: Team internet (those who are speaking up to defend net neutrality rules that protect online free speech) and Team Cable (those who are supporting the FCC’s plan to dismantle those protections and give cable companies control over our online experience), said Fight For the Future spokesman Evan Greer.