More than 170 organizations urged acting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website] Commissioner Ajit Pai [official profile] Tuesday to preserve net neutrality [JURIST backgrounder]. The letter [text, PDF], signed by organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Greenpeace and the American Library Association [advocacy websites], asks Pai to “oppose legislation and regulatory actions that would threaten net neutrality,” in the interest of competition, innovation, free speech, and equality of access. The signatories seek to preserve the Internet protections of the Obama administration against a new FCC Commissioner the New York Times described as moving aggressively to “roll back consumer protections.”

Net neutrality has remained a major political issue in the US and internationally. In June the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] upheld [JURIST report] net neutrality regulations. The FCC passed new rules [JURIST report] in 2015 that prevented service providers from offering speedier lands to those willing to pay extra. This caused controversy between businesses such as Google and Netflix with service providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast [company website].