Thousands of grassroots activists encourage Commissioner Rosenworcel to resist political pressure and support privacy rules
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Daniel Schuman, daniel@demandprogress.org, 202-577-6100
In recent weeks, there has been growing momentum among grassroots activists calling for FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to resist political pressure and support popular FCC rules that would block Internet service providers from selling customer data without permission. Rosenworcel is contending with the possibility that her renomination to the FCC will be blocked if she does not buckle under to Republicans who oppose the privacy rules.
In the past weeks, more than 26,000 people have signed petitions urging Rosenworcel to put their privacy above political pressure and to finalize the FCC rules, including 14,600 Demand Progress members who said:
"Our right to privacy online means that our Internet providers should not be permitted to sell data about us without our permission. Please finish the FCC's proposed ISP privacy rules without delay."
Demand Progress members have sent hundreds of tweets, with the hashtag #FCCPrivacy, to Rosenworcel. Demand Progress ally Free Press also reported 12,000 signatures calling for the FCC to stop ISP’s from selling private information without customers’ consent and identifying Rosenworcel as a critical vote. Earlier this year, more than 34,000 Demand Progress members filed public comments to support the FCC’s plan to block ISP’s from selling data without permission.
"Internet providers have access to vast troves of customers’ unencrypted online activity. The FCC should issue rules that provide key privacy protections for this data," said Demand Progress Policy Director Daniel Schuman. "However, with Internet service providers' lobbyists and their allies in Congress doing everything they can to oppose these commonsense rules—including cynically delaying Commissioner Rosenworcel’s renomination—we urge the commissioner and the rest of the FCC to resist political pressure and to side with consumers, not Big Cable, when it comes to online privacy."
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