Net Neutrality Day of Action Protest: What Amazon, Netflix, Others Are Doing To Help 'Save The Internet'

On July 12, the Internet is going to look a bit different than it usually does. A huge portion of the web is partaking in the Net Neutrality Day of Action Protest, an online event designed to raise awareness for the essential principles of net neutrality.

Organized by Fight for the Future —a nonprofit digital rights advocacy group—the “internet-wide day of action” will organize more than 80,000 individual sites, companies and organizations around the common cause of standing in favor of net neutrality.

Read: Is Net Neutrality Dead? What The Internet Will Look Like Without Open Internet Rules, Title II

What Is Definition Of Net Neutrality?

At its core, net neutrality is the idea that all data on the internet should be treated the same. Net neutrality is often defined by three tenets: that internet service providers cannot block access to any content, throttle or slow a connection, or offer paid prioritization to companies or services who are willing to pay for preferential treatment.

Net neutrality was effectively established under U.S. law in 2015 when the Federal Communications Commission, led by Chairman Tom Wheeler, passed the Open Internet Order. The ruling reclassified ISPs as common carriers and made the internet a public utility under Title II of the Communications Act.

Since the election of President Donald Trump and the appointment of Ajit Pai to the position of Chairman of the FCC, the future of net neutrality has been put at risk. Chairman Pai has proposed a reversal of the Title II classification that allows the FCC to regulate net neutrality rules and has suggested allowing ISPs to undermine the primary tenets of the policy.

Net Neutrality July 12 Day Of Action Protests

In order to encourage internet users to speak out against the proposed change, internet companies will sounding the alarm about the importance of net neutrality. As people browse the web on July 12, they will display banners that will convey what the internet might be like without net neutrality.

Read: What Is Net Neutrality? How FCC's Title II and Open Internet Rules Came To Be

The images will focus on how the user experience could change when people go to visit their favorite sites: warnings about slow load times, pages being blocked by ISPs and services being inaccessible without paying for a plan that allows access to certain sites.

Users will also run across a number of advertisements that will take the place of standard ads and display a message encouraging visitors to take action to help save net neutrality.

Mobile users will get their own version of this experience, with popular apps adding push notifications that will highlight ISPs’ ability to limit access and record potentially invasive information without net neutrality protections in place.

Below is a list of some of the biggest participants who will partake in the Net Neutrality Day of Action Protest, including Amazon, Reddit and Netflix