Media & Democracy Coalition member groups, representing consumers, community media, musicians, the low-income, rural and urban communities, filed comments in July 2010 with the Federal Communications Commission, urging the agency to classify Broadband as a Title II telecommunications service to advance policies that could ensure that Internet access is fast, affordable, and accessible to all.

In their comments, the groups made a compelling case for the agency to take this crucial step to make the U.S. a global broadband leader:

“Our community relies on the Internet as a public platform for free speech, equal opportunity, economic growth and innovation. Without vital Net Neutrality protections, companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, which have a commercial incentive to limit the free-flowing Web, can decide whether I will have a voice online. These companies should not have the power to determine our communities' fate on the Internet.” [Click Here to view the full comment]

• Access Humboldt

“Title II classification would provide greater certainty and authority for the Commission to implement the goals of the [National Broadband Plan]…such as reform of universal service to include broadband and enhanced data collection to determine the true state of broadband availability and affordability…[and] greatly enhance the free and open character of the Internet…" [Click Here to view the full comment]

• Public Knowledge

“Increased broadband adoption in combination with open internet provisions will allow musicians and music entrepreneurs — regardless of their geographic location — to reach new audiences, grow their brands, cultivate their fan bases and sell their products.” [Click Here to view the full comment]

• Future of Music Coalition

“Millions of low-income, immigrant, and minority communities rely on the Internet for… activities such as applying for jobs, creating and growing their businesses, participating in civic and political activities, and accessing public and government assistance. Classification of broadband Internet connectivity service under Title II will best preserve an open and nondiscriminatory Internet that can afford opportunity to traditionally disadvantaged and historically marginalized communities.” [Click Here to view the full comment]

• Media Access Project on behalf of:
• Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
• Main Street Project
• Media Alliance
• Media Justice League
• Media Literacy Project
• Media Mobilizing Project
• Peoples Production House
• Reclaim the Media
• Thousand Kites 
• Center for Rural Strategies

“We need a strong FCC to ensure the implementation of the National Broadband Plan. This is a critical moment in our nation's history…some of the plan's most important goals -- expanding broadband access for rural residents, Native Americans, the poor, Americans with disabilities, and small businesses; and strengthening public safety communications, cyber- security, and consumer privacy – cannot be implemented without the authority Congress originally gave the FCC.” [Click Here to view the full comment]

• Mountain Area Information Network

“Broadband infrastructure functions like the electrical grid or national highways: Without it, the United States cannot hope to remain an economic competitor, and those who cannot access it will remain left behind in today’s information age. But it is also much more than that: it creates myriad forums of democratic engagement and cultural expression that simply did not exist before the advent of the Internet. The Commission can and should reestablish its authority over broadband networks by classifying broadband Internet connectivity as a telecommunications service. Doing so will establish a stable, bounded, and conservative foundation for its broadband agenda.” [Click Here to view the full comment]

• Free Press

“…(C)lassifying broadband Internet connectivity services as telecommunications services will provide greater certainty and necessary protections for all broadband Internet users. Such certainty benefits not only innovators and edge companies large and small, but also other businesses that rely on broadband Internet connectivity. It also benefits the whole host of educational entities, government and public safety service providers, and individual end-users and consumers for whom fair and open access to broadband is increasingly a necessity for engagement in all manner of economic, educational, civic, and social endeavors.” [Click Here to view the full comment]

• Center for Media Justice
• Consumers Union
• Media Access Project
• New America Foundation

“Will communications policy have the tools necessary to actively pursue deployment of a ubiquitous communications network that is accessible and affordable for all people of the United States and operated in a manner that protects consumers, privacy and public safety, or will the availability and operation of the network be determined solely by the economic interests of the companies that own the networks?” [Click Here to view the full comment]

• Consumer Federation of America