On the eve of the FCC's deadline for initial comments on new network neutrality rules, network neutrality activists have launched a new Web site, BattlefortheNet.com, that they say will serve as a hub for activity and open Internet rule comments meant for the FCC.
They said that is, in part, because the FCC's site is not working consistently—the commission moved the comment deadline to Friday from earlier in the week after it conceded it was having trouble processing the load.
The groups, including Free Press, Demand Progress and Fight for the Future, as well as Reddit and Tumblr, say they are framing the fight as a battle between "team cable" and "team Internet," with those who oppose net neutrality put in the former camp.
That is clear from the graphics on the site's home page. It features a dark landscape, on one side dominated by tall buildings with the logos of Comcast, AT&T and Time Warner Cable and appearing to rest on a pile of hundred dollar bills. A laser from atop the Comcast building is attacking a pastoral landscape on the other side dominated by a computer monitor, dog and bunny, with a peaceful, steeple-dominated town in the background.
The message: "CABLE COMPANIES ARE SPENDING MILLIONS TO GUT NET NEUTRALITY AND SLOW YOUR INTERNET TO A CRAWL. WE CAN'T LET THEM."
“The Battle for the Net starts today at the FCC, but it will be carried to Congress, the White House and all across the country until we secure real Net Neutrality once and for all,” said Free Press president Craig Aaron in a statement.
