Net Neutrality Verizon Protests: How To Find A Rally Location Near You

With a vote looming from the United States Federal Communications Commission that would kill net neutrality protections, advocates for the policy are setting up protests around the country to express their opposition to the decision.

The protests will take place Thursday, Dec. 7. The activists have targets Verizon stores as their primary gathering points in what they hope will be a nationwide show of support for existing net neutrality rules.

The effort is being organized by Team Internet—a collaboration of hundreds of companies, organizations and individuals who support net neutrality—and activist organizations Demand Progress, Fight for the Future and Free Press.

The organizations have marked Verizon stores as the location for the protests for a number of reasons, chief among them being the fact that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai once served as associate general counsel from 2001 and 2003 for the telecommunications firm. Verizon has also spent millions of dollars lobbying to kill the current net neutrality protections.

According to the organizers, protest attendees will be encouraged to call and tweet at legislators to encourage the U.S. Congress to take legal action to protect the net neutrality rules introduced in 2015 during the President Barack Obama administration.

Those rules classified broadband internet as a public utility under Title II of the Communications Act and provided the FCC with legal levers to prevent internet service providers from blocking content, slowing or throttling internet speeds and offering paid prioritization that would advantage those willing to pay more.

How To Find A Net Neutrality Protest

There are currently hundreds of protests planned in major cities in every state across the U.S. Battle for the Net has created a tool that allows users to enter their ZIP code to find an event in their area.

If there isn’t a protest currently being hosted in a person’s ZIP code, they can use a tool built by Demand Progress to help set up a protest of their own.

The organization recommends protesters pick a Verizon store that is easily accessible so people can show up for the event. When that isn’t possible Demand Progress suggests taking the protest directly to the office of a member of Congress.

Demand Progress offers some stock language that protesters can use when setting up their event and has produced a three-page guide for executing the protest, as well a flyer to hand out to attendees that details ways to take action to defend net neutrality.

While Thursday is the primary day of action for the protests, other events will be taking place in the lead up to next week’s vote. There are several protests planned for Saturday as well as a protest that will take place outside of the FCC building in Washington, D.C. on December 13, the day before the vote.