Net Neutrality and the Future of the Internet

A Conference Call for Funders
Media Democracy Fund and Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media
Thursday, January 27, 2011
2:00 p.m. Eastern / 11:00 a.m. Pacific

You may have seen the flurry of news before the holidays when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced their "net neutrality" rules. For several years, advocates concerned with protecting the power and promise of the open Internet have been working to protect our rights and enshrine net neutrality into law. True net neutrality would prevent Internet service providers from blocking, slowing or charging more for one Internet user's content over another's. The rules passed by the FCC on December 21st have been criticized as too weak and ridden with loopholes to adequately protect our free speech and open access to information and services. As communication and information evolve in the digital age, decisions like these will impact all of our work.

What do these new rules mean for the Internet and communications? How might these changes affect your issue and program areas in 2011 and beyond? What happens next?

Media Democracy Fund and Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media invite funders and donors to a briefing via conference call to learn more and ask questions. Gigi Sohn, President and Co-Founder of Public Knowledge will brief us on the current rules and possible next steps. Jack Rosenthal, Senior Fellow at The Atlantic Philanthropies will add his perspective as a funder who has been researching the impact of broadband.

RSVP to Jill Marshall, jmarshall@proteusfund.org by January 25 in order to receive dial-in information. Please note that this call is for funders only.

To learn more about how communications policies like net neutrality may impact your foundation's issues, see: http://www.mediademocracyfund.org/impact-stories.