Internet Activists Promote 'Plane Truth'

Net neutrality activist groups have gotten together to fly a "Don't Be an Enemy of the Internet" banner over Austin, Texas, to deliver a message to Republican Texas senator and likely presidential candidate Ted Cruz.

The plane-towed banner is scheduled to fly over the state capital March 13-14 from 4:30 to 7:30. Doing that scheduling were Demand Progress, Fight for the Future and the Free Press Action Fund, which coalesced for Title II regs under their own banner, BattlefortheNet.com.

Austin is hosting the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, which means the groups hope to have a large audience for their message.

Cruz, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee whose jurisdiction includes FCC oversight, has been a vocal opponent of network neutrality, branding it Obamacare for the Internet.

“Texans love their liberty, yet Senator Ted Cruz has been standing on the side of behemoth cable companies that have colluded with big government for years to maintain their monopoly status at the expense of consumer freedom, choice and access to information,” said Fight for the Future campaign director Evan Greer in a statement.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.