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Noted online petitioner Change.org will be promoting a petition to stop bandwidth capping this week.
Perhaps best known for hosting an appeal which influenced Bank of America to drop their proposed $5 monthly ATM card fee, Change.org will be presenting the ‘no data capping’ petition on various social media sites in an attempt to gain signatures.
The petition’s letter, directed to AT&T, Comcast, the Federal Communications Commission, and all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who practice data capping, demands that they return to a billing model of unlimited access for a reasonable monthly fee. Telecommunication providers have a responsibility to improve service, not lower it, the authors argue, particularly in light of the fact that taxpayer-funded broadband pipelines already exist, which the providers are not using.
Petition author David K. Smith argues that data caps contradict the Internet’s inherent purpose. In the petition page’s linked article, “Why Data Caps Are Censorship,” he states that as the Internet is exponentially growing, one can always access more information than any data cap could allow, resulting in censorship from “the Big Picture.” The article maintains that exclusion from the total amount of information available results in “leashed” users having an incomplete perspective due to restricted access, and that incomplete, fragmentary information is useless.
“Now is a great time to be signing and sharing this petition,” said Smith. “We have Change.org’s attention, and more and more articles are appearing to protest bandwidth injustices. I feel this is a critical fight for our freedom to information.”
Change.org online help assets suggest that one of the most effective ways to gain signatures is for advocates to place a link to the petition under appropriate news and technical articles, along with a paragraph describing its relevance to the subject discussed.
[Stop the Cap! encourages readers to sign this (and other) petitions which declare the practice of Internet Overcharging unacceptable. Whether it’s data caps or throttled speeds, customers deserve an unlimited, unthrottled Internet experience they pay good money to receive. As financial reports show, today’s unlimited pricing formula delivers enormous profits to broadband providers, even as their costs to provide the service continue to decline.]
Finally, I hope this gets all the attention it deserves.
So, how is Change.org promoting this exactly? Are you saying they have plans to do so? As of this moment, I see no mention of it on their homepage.
Hi Bran, I was contacted by Change.org representatives roughly a week ago; they asked me to make some changes to the petition letter and suggested reducing the length of the petition body. On Tuesday, I was emailed by a Senior Organizer at Change.org’s Economic Justice section, saying the he would start promoting the issue on social media and see how it did. Hopefully, the more signatures we can obtain, the more attention the petition will receive. I will update this thread with any new information that I receive. Thanks for your comments.
Why only 305 signatures? I just signed this. Wireline ISPs are imposing caps to protect cable TV revenue against Internet sources of video. This is a clear conflict of interest due to being in both the TV and Internet business. ISPs have a history of providing poor (inaccurate) info on usage, or no meters at all. ISPs should not be able to sell service by data consumption, unless they provide reliable, easily accessed meters that are subject to inspections and regulations related to weights and measures. Wireline internet providers do not have the spectrum constraints faced by the cell phone… Read more »
I think there is a relative dearth of people in the U.S. that are aware, or would even believe, of such mafiosi behavior by the major Cable/Telecos. It’s difficult to get a large movement going unless people are being physically abused by violence or starvation. Even Occupy Wall Street is becoming a fading memory, receiving less and less media every day, yet a handful of people keep going. I believe, for the most part, that those who are moved to this simple action have either been warned by their provider or ride the line of the cap. Few people will… Read more »
It may be to your benefit to talk to a state communications rep. If a doctor is involved, go there for pointers. If your dad is a vet, go there. The main thing is to understand that there is no such thing as “too much data use for modern digital traffic pipes. Comcast, as it is clear ALL ISPs do, merely uses this for a wedge to motivate unwary users into higher prices. There is a good discourse on this here, plus a link to change.org to amass a nation-wide effort to motivate ISPs to drop their data cap nonsense… Read more »
The UCC Contract Law makes explicit that one Party to a contract cannot make arbitrary rules or changes, or denial of contract performance. In the case of CenturyLink, as of January 7, 2014, they have shut down my Internet access at will twice, citing that I exceeded their arbitrary data cap, stating that the contract I signed included such language. The fact that I asked them to roll my “discounted” entry package over to a second term in the latest entry service package – a year-long contract – that does not maximize their profit is clearly the motivation they have… Read more »
I’m not seeing a major issue here. They’re a private business and an ISP with a acceptable use policy. They have a policy stating what they feel is acceptable usage: http://www.centurylink.com/aboutus/legal/internet-service-disclosure.html “CenturyLink Excessive Use Policy The CenturyLink Excessive Use Policy (EUP) sets download guidelines based on the High-Speed Internet service plan that a customer purchases. CenturyLink is committed to providing an optimum Internet experience for every customer we serve. To accomplish this, CenturyLink needs to ensure that customers are on the rate plan that meets their data download requirements. Of the millions of CenturyLink High-Speed Internet customers, less than 0.5… Read more »
Not a problem? Really? Then let me ask you how would you take being told you can buy a bandwidth speed of “X,” but since that’s way too high given that the servers you transfer files from are limited to 1/3rd “X” so you go to the ISP and ask for a lower cost bandwidth plan. All is good for months. Then out of the blue Mr. Isp shuts your access down and syas you exceeded his arbitrary, AND unadvertized data cap, for which he never mentioned a word about, and for which he made absolutely no effort to assure… Read more »
If you look around on the site here I’m a regular visitor and commenter that has worked in the industry early on. I don’t work for CenturyLink or any ISP/Cable Co. I’m very against data caps, there’s no legitimate reason for them other than profiteering and abuse of monopolies by providers that have virtually exclusive territories leaving them as the only viable ISP like CenturyLink in you case. As I said above, I was being _realistic_ that your options are very limited and threats of going to court wouldn’t go anywhere. Best case if you had been automatically charged for… Read more »
The Truth, exposed, makes thugs -RUNNN! That goes for political tugs, like nobama, et al. The Bush family include “Bro” NO-Barrack, since he’s a second cousin by his mom’s blood. Pul-eeze, Scott! The banksters own and run enslaved We the Sheeple, and they use Hegelian tactics by appearing to give two and ONLY two, political parties to “choose” as “elected” “government. 1. There is NO elected government – that’s a sham easily resolved by watching and comparing the Book, “1984” to today’s America, and, 2. There is not a single court resource that is not owned by 10 Downing Street,… Read more »