The day after around 150 Internet and tech companies asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to remove discriminatory loopholes from his net neutrality proposal , another large coalition — comprised of everything from consumer advocates to educators to Reddit to… the Harry Potter Alliance — has written to both Wheeler and President Obama, calling for the FCC to drop the controversial plan to allow Internet “fast lanes.”

Once again, the fast lane idea would allow Internet service providers to charge a premium to content companies for better and faster delivery of their data. This sort of prioritizing of content was prohibited under the neutrality guidelines that a federal appeals court gutted earlier this year.

“We strongly urge the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider and abandon efforts to adopt rules that would harm — rather than preserve — Net Neutrality,” reads the letter, signed by groups including Free Press, ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and our colleagues at Consumers Union. “The open Internet is a forum for free speech, innovation, civic engagement and the exercise of our basic rights. The Internet achieved this status because it was created on a platform governed by the principle of nondiscrimination.”

At the core of a neutral Internet is the idea that all data is treated equally regardless of who is transmitting it. Wheeler (a former front man for both the cable and telecom industries) contends that his proposal keeps neutrality intact by prohibiting ISPs from blocking or slowing down data, but in our view, and those who signed this latest letter, that only deals with half the problem.

“[I]nstead of restoring this important principle of nondiscrimination, the Commission’s proposal would make things even worse,” continues the letter. “It would reportedly propose rules that would enable phone and cable Internet service providers (ISPs) to discriminate both technically and financially against fledgling online companies, independent media outlets, nonprofit organizations and anyone else with a website.”

As we’ve argued numerous times in recent weeks, the letter states that the existence of fast lanes would incentivize ISPs to “create ‘artificial scarcity’ to extract new sources of revenue,” resulting in a “two-tiered Internet: a fast lane for those willing or able to pay for it, and a dirt road for the rest of us.”

Rather than establishing net neutrality, the groups state that this “is the opposite of a free and open Internet.”

“Internet service providers should not be in the business of picking winners and losers online,” concludes the letter. “But the proposal the FCC is currently considering gives ISPs the power to do exactly that, which is why it must be abandoned. Instead, the Commission must propose and adopt legally

sound rules that keep the Internet an open and nondiscriminatory platform for speech and innovation.”

Here is the full text of the letter and the full list of those groups who signed:

Dear President Obama and Chairman Wheeler: We are writing to express our support for a truly free and open Internet. We strongly urge the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider and abandon efforts to adopt rules that would harm — rather than preserve — Net Neutrality. The open Internet is a forum for free speech, innovation, civic engagement and the exercise of our basic rights. The Internet achieved this status because it was created on a platform governed by the principle of nondiscrimination. In 2010, the FCC attempted to incorporate this principle into its open Internet rules. Those rules were thrown out earlier this year, leaving Internet users in limbo while the FCC decided its next move. Now, instead of restoring this important principle of nondiscrimination, the Commission’s proposal would make things even worse. It would reportedly propose rules that would enable phone and cable Internet service providers (ISPs) to discriminate both technically and financially against fledgling online companies,

independent media outlets, nonprofit organizations and anyone else with a website. These policies would create troubling incentives for ISPs to create “artificial scarcity” to extract new sources of revenue. The result will be a two-tiered Internet: a fast lane for those willing or able to pay for it, and a dirt road for the rest of us. This is discrimination pure and simple. It is the opposite of a free and open Internet. President Obama, in 2007 you told the world, “I am a strong supporter of Net Neutrality,” rightfully asserting “that one of the best things about the Internet … is that there is this incredible equality there.” And Chairman Wheeler, last fall you wrote that “[o]ne of the signal achievements of this latest great information revolution — our network revolution — is how the results of its diffused control and increased autonomy produce ‘innovation without permission.’” We wholeheartedly agree with both statements. Internet service providers should not be in the business of picking winners and losers online. But the proposal the FCC is currently considering gives ISPs the power to do exactly that, which is why it must be abandoned. Instead, the Commission must propose and adopt legally sound rules that keep the Internet an open and nondiscriminatory platform for speech and innovation. Sincerely,

Access

American Civil Liberties Union

Appalshop, Inc.

Art

Beyond Sight

Center for Environmental Health

Center for Media Justice

Centre College

Citizens for Sanity

ColorOfChange

Common Cause

Consumers Union

Council on American-Islamic Relations

CR Consulting

CREDO Mobile

Daily Kos

Defending Dissent Foundation

Demand Progress

Democracy for America

Diversified Media Enterprises

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Engine Advocacy

Entertainment Consumers Association

Evanston Community Television

FAIR

Fight for the Future

Free Press

Free Software Foundation

Future of Music Coalition

Glocal

Greenlining Institute

Greenpeace USA

Hackers & Founders

Harry Potter Alliance

Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Just Foreign Policy

LAMP (Learning About Multimedia Project)

Latino Print Network

LatinoRebels.com

Louder Media Alliance

The Media Consortium

Media Equity Collaborative

Media Literacy Project

Media Matters for America

Media Mobilizing Project

MoveOn.org Political Action

Museums and the Web

The Nation

National Alliance for Media Arts + Culture

National Association of Black Journalists

National Association of Hispanic Journalists

National Association of Latino Independent Producers

National Hispanic Media Coalition

Netroots Foundation

New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute

New Moon Girls

NTEN

Occupy Network

OpenMedia.org

Pacific University

Park Center for Independent Media, Ithaca College

Participatory Politics Foundation

PEN American Center

The People’s Press Project

Personal Democracy Media

PopularResistance.org

Presente.org

Progressive Change Campaign Committee

Prometheus Radio Project

reddit

Reel Grrls

RootsAction.org

Savvy System Designs, Inc.

SOA Watch San Francisco

St. Paul Neighborhood Network

The Stonewall Chorale Student Net Alliance

SumOfUs

Tarakali Education

TheUpTake.org

ThoughtWorks

Tin House

Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University

United Church of Christ Office of Communication, Inc.

Upwell Women In Media & News

Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press

Women’s Media Center

Writers Guild of America East

X-Lab