The net neutrality 'Day of Action' is here Presented by CTIA

With help from Steven Overly, Ashley Gold, Margaret Harding McGill and John Hendel

AND IT’S HERE — The net neutrality “day of action.” Here’s what some of the biggest internet names are doing early this morning:


— Google sent an email to its "Take Action" network and urged people to contact the FCC via a net neutrality website created by the Internet Association. That email, which was also posted to the company's public policy blog, said: "It’s an important chapter in this debate, and we hope you’ll make your voice heard."

— Twitter's public policy team tweeted a blog post to its 292,000 followers last night calling on the FCC to "abandon its misguided effort to obviate all the work that has been done on behalf of all Internet users." Twitter is now promoting hashtag #NetNeutrality and the blog post in its trending news column.

— A banner atop the Netflix homepage reads: "Protect Internet Freedom. Defend Net Neutrality" with a link to the Internet Association's advocacy website, where many of the group's members are expected to drive traffic today.

— Airbnb, on its homepage, tells users it is "protesting the FCC's plan to remove common-sense regulations" and provides a form for them to contact members of Congress. It's rival, HomeAway, features a "Save #NetNeutrality" banner with a link to the Internet Association site.

— PornHub, one of a number of adult-content site participants, went with the cheeky slogan "Slow porn sucks" and tells people to take action at the "Battle for the Net" page created by liberal groups Fight for the Future, Free Press and Demand Progress.

—A pop-up on Reddit says, "The internet's less fun when your favorite sites load slowly, isn't it?" and says internet service providers shouldn't determine what you view online. It's also driving users to the "Battle for the Net" website.

— Consumer Reports is also taking the pop-up ad approach with one covering its whole homepage, while Vimeo and comedy site Funny or Die created net neutrality-related videos that call out FCC Chairman Ajit Pai by name.

— Dropbox posted a blog of its own. Ebay added a banner to it's public policy website telling visitors that "the fate of net neutrality is being discussed in Washington" and encouraging them to learn more about the company's position. And Spotify greeted early-morning music listeners with a small banner.

— As Steven noted last night, the effort to marshal millions of internet users “mirrors the web ‘blackout’ deployed in early 2012 to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act, which lawmakers dropped after receiving a flood of phone calls and emails.” But he notes the strategy may carry less power in today’s GOP-dominated Washington: “FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has vowed to roll back the rules requiring internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon to treat all web traffic equally, and he has the commission votes he needs, along with the support of congressional Republicans and Trump.”

— Democrats plan to jump into the fray with a noon press conference on the Capitol lawn led by Sen. Ed Markey. He’ll be joined by Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Ron Wyden and Al Franken and Reps. Frank Pallone, Anna Eshoo, Mike Doyle, Doris Matsui, Peter Welch and Jared Polis. Mozilla, Free Press, Public Knowledge, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future and many other groups will be there. Catch the livestream here and stay tuned for a Facebook Live led by Doyle at 2pm. Oh, and Sen. Brian Schatz will deliver a net neutrality speech on the floor and participate in a Facebook Live as well.

— What are Republicans saying? “We understand people have some passionate feelings on the issue, and we expect to hear those,” said Rep. Marsha Blackburn. But she predicted the day of action will “only be another day of confusion for consumers and users” and criticized Democrats for refusing to engage on net neutrality legislation: “What I find interesting is that we have asked Democrats for years to come to the table on this issue, only for them to hide behind political excuses.” Rep. Darrell Issa, for his part, welcomes the debate. “You can look at criticism as an opportunity to improve your own game or you can look at it as a nuisance,” he said. Issa backs an antitrust approach to open internet protections relying on the FTC rather than the FCC.

— Will the FCC’s website hold up under the expected deluge? The commission’s IT staff “have taken additional measures to safeguard our comment filing system” and “will be on high alert over the next 48 hours,” Pai said in a Tuesday letter to Sens. Wyden and Schatz. He declined to disclose specific steps because it might undermine their effectiveness. The lawmakers had pressed Pai about the FCC’s ability to accept a high volume of comments after the system sputtered earlier this year in what the agency later described as a “non-traditional” distributed denial-of-service attack.

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING and welcome to Morning Tech, where we’re getting ready for an ‘action’-packed day. Send your tech and telecom tips to [email protected] and @liszhou. Catch the rest of the team’s contact info after Quick Downloads.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS — The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a triple-play FCC nomination hearing for Brendan Carr, Jessica Rosenworcel and Pai (who requires reconfirmation) on July 19. (Pro Tech readers knew this was coming.)

MICROSOFT’S CHARM OFFENSIVE — The software giant is talking up its rural broadband plan at the FCC, which would have to changes rules for using certain spectrum bands for the plan to work. “I met with two of the commissioners two, maybe three weeks ago,” Microsoft President Brad Smith tells us. Microsoft on Tuesday hosted Pai in South Boston, Va., to talk about using unlicensed spectrum for internet access to help students. The chairman tweeted gratitude to Microsoft and posted a photo of a student who “told me he used #TVwhitespace-enabled broadband to do homework.”

FIGHT LOOMING OVER AUCTION COSTS — Today is the deadline for broadcasters to submit their cost estimates for moving to new airwaves after the incentive auction, setting up a potential battle with the FCC if the numbers greatly exceed the $1.75 billion set aside for such relocation. Remember, the TV stations remaining on air need to be “repacked” into a smaller portion of the spectrum band to clear the way for wireless use. The FCC will review the cost estimates for equipment and related expenses based on what it determines is reasonable.

— Representatives of Sinclair Broadcast Group met with advisers to Chairman Pai and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly late last week with concerns that the FCC will deem some expenses ineligible to “artificially reduce the cost of the repack.” “There remains much speculation that the fund will be insufficient to reimburse broadcasters for all of their reasonable costs for comparable facilities,” Sinclair Senior Vice President Rebecca Hanson wrote in a filing detailing the meeting. “Assuming that is true, the FCC should not let this influence its judgment as to what is rightfully reimbursable or not.” FCC spokesman Charlie Meisch said the agency could release an aggregate cost estimate amount as soon as Thursday, but cautioned the amount could change as individual estimates are reviewed.

SILICON VALLEY MUST-READS —

— Twitter brings on former Goldman banker: The company hired Ned Segal as chief financial officer, filling one of several vacant executive spots, The Wall Street Journal reports. Segal worked for 17 years at Goldman Sachs and ran financial planning for the division that delivers Intuit’s QuickBooks. … In other Twitter news: a group of users blocked by President Trump are suing him for infringing their First Amendment rights, Mashable reports.

— Google’s AI venture fund: The search giant is expanding its focus on artificial intelligence, establishing a AI-focused fund called Gradient Ventures. Startups in the portfolio can get AI training from Google and have a Google engineer work onsite, CNBC reports.

— Spotify-Sony deal: “After months of negotiations, Sony Music Entertainment has reached a licensing agreement with Spotify, sources tell Billboard, becoming the second major label to do so this year and paving the way for the streaming service to go public.”

TRANSITIONS — Kristin Lee, previously a communications director and senior policy analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during the Obama administration, has joined Facebook’s communications team “to work on Internet connectivity and access.”

QUICK DOWNLOADS

How Google is leveraging academics for influence: “Google operates a little-known program to harness the brain power of university researchers to help sway opinion and public policy, cultivating financial relationships with professors at campuses from Harvard University to the University of California, Berkeley,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

Backpage’s role in developing sex-related ads: “A contractor for the controversial classifieds website Backpage.com has been aggressively soliciting and creating sex-related ads, despite Backpage’s repeated insistence that it had no role in the content of ads posted on its site, according to a trove of newly discovered documents,” The Washington Post reports.

Could this be the end for FanDuel-DraftKings?: “FanDuel is considering whether to walk away from its proposed merger with DraftKings in light of a decision by the U.S. government to challenge the deal in court,” Recode reports.

Tips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Eric Engleman ([email protected], @ericengleman), Angela Greiling Keane ([email protected], @agreilingkeane), Nancy Scola ([email protected], @nancyscola), Margaret Harding McGill ([email protected], @margarethmcgill), Ashley Gold ([email protected], @ashleyrgold), Steven Overly ([email protected], @stevenoverly), John Hendel ([email protected], @JohnHendel) and Li Zhou ([email protected], @liszhou)

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