Fighting for Online Equality for Latinos

[Commentary] Facing discrimination and unjust laws, for Latinos, the Internet has played a critical role in the movement for equality in this country. Battles were fought over an Internet with a level playing field that is now in jeopardy. Our ability to raise an equal voice online is under attack.

Network neutrality rules will do a few things to protect the online rights of consumers:

• Ban ISPs from blocking our access to lawful websites on the Internet;
• Ban ISPs from adopting a paid prioritization system that would create fast lanes for the wealthy and slow lanes for the rest of us;
• Protect Latinos, other people of color and low-income individuals who are more likely to use wireless connections to access the Internet, by enforcing these bans equally on wireless devices and wired broadband connections;
• Prevent ISP discrimination before it happens, and not after the fact; and
• Regulate ISPs as utilities by reclassifying broadband as a Title II service, the only sure way that the FCC can sustain legal challenges to its authority.