Footprinting FCC Net-Neutrality

As footprinting is to safety in ethical hacking domains for clients and customers using internet, then advocacy in net neutrality rules is the safest road ahead. The rules are changing lanes inside the Washington D.C. beltway. Internet fast lanes vs. slow lanes are being drafted at the FCC.

Having just read the recently released FCC draft that requires internet service providers to ensure balances in fair accesses, the FCC's plan is set to roll back net-neutrality. We have had some time to review this big turkey (220 pages of draft rules worth).

Before we dive in, now is the time to raise the volume on outcry as members of Congress return from the holiday. The professional association, of which I am a member, has set up an email tool so you can get your voice heard in advance of the FCC’s December 14 vote. As Cybrary students many of us use the public libraries in our hometowns, and this is but one element of the "slow" lane reduced accesses found in the FCC draft. To defend the library, community colleges and universities that provide internet access to students, the librarian-tech's (like me) are raising their voices towards Congress. (Linked Action Center: Net-Neutrality Voices.

Students across the library tech environment are addressing the access and availability of fast lanes vs slow lanes of internet traffic for students and instructors alike. By connecting before the December 14 target date a louder voice, footprinting to the decision makers in Congress can change the FCC draft position. Cybrarians are the professional voices, the leaders in the field of IT.

"Footprinting Advocacy"Congress can play a role in a few important ways: First, strong disapproval from members of Congress (especially from Republicans and even more importantly from those on the committees that oversee the FCC) could persuade the FCC to pause its planned vote. I provided the link to the email tool so you can make your voice heard with your member of Congress in advance of the December 14 vote.

Second, if the FCC moves ahead with the vote and it passes through party lines as expected, members of Congress could use the Congressional Review Act to reject this destructive policy move.

The third option (unlikely) is that Congress could develop new legislation that would codify net neutrality protections in law. In light of an already complex and heated legislative agenda, this seems improbable.

If Cybrary's large and knowledgeable students, instructors and families - both close and extended - voice their thoughts and concerns by December 14, a wave of advocacy could turn the tide on the FCC's draft and again prove why footprinting in advocacy is the tool of today and tomorrow. We are all best served in a "fast-lane" internet speed for all of us in equal, balanced and fair use.

-Jim White, Cybrarian Student, Insider Pro. Librarian Tech.