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<table align="center" style="empty-cells: show;" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="vertical-align: top;"><div style="padding: 5px; overflow-x: auto;"><!-- wmLetter_head_end --><html><body><span style="font-family:Verdana; color:#000; font-size:10pt;"><div>Thanks Richard,</div><div><br></div><div>We have city elections here in Denver next month. I am reaching out to candidates for city council to publicly pledge that, if elected, they will NOT award new service contracts to providers who oppose net neutrality (ie party to this suit). Any new contract for services must include a clause that supports FCC guidelines for net neutrality. </div><div><br></div><div>In addition, those elected officials may have the following tools:</div><div>1. Forbid the issuance of any permits to service providers who are party to that anti-net neutrality suit or fail to pledge support for FCC guidelines for net neutrality</div><div>2. Review or audit of business property taxes related to service provider assets for those service providers who have joined in the anti-net neutrality law suit</div><div>3. Condemnation of assets in public rights of way owned by those service providers. Too far out? Google this: Boulder Colorado Xcel Energy condemnation power grid. Those assets can then be put to use for municipal (real) broadband</div><div>4. Divestment of any investments in those service providers (universities, pension funds for state employees, others, hold those stocks)</div><div>5. Debarment from any future contracts</div><div><br></div><div>I suggest proponents of net neutrality ask their elected officials to take action along these lines. Those officials may include:</div><div>1. Your city council no matter how small your "city"</div><div>2. Your mayor</div><div>3. Your county commissioners</div><div>4. Your school board</div><div>5. Your tribal council</div><div>6. Your University Board(s) of Regents (also divest of stock of those providers)</div><div>7. Your state legislature</div><div>8. Members of Congress</div><div><br></div><div>You have the power...</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div> </div>
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Subject: [1st-mile-nm] CenturyLink is the latest organization to<br>
challenge the FCC's Net Neutrality Rules<br>
From: Richard Lowenberg <<a href="mailto:rl@1st-mile.org">rl@1st-mile.org</a>><br>
Date: Fri, April 17, 2015 5:09 pm<br>
To: 1st-Mile-NM <<a href="mailto:1st-mile-nm@mailman.dcn.org">1st-mile-nm@mailman.dcn.org</a>><br>
<br>
CenturyLink becomes the latest organization to challenge the agency's Feb. 26 rules<br><br>By Grant Gross<br>IDG News Service | Apr 17, 2015 <div><a target="_blank" href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2911640/fcc-faces-seventh-net-neutrality-lawsuit.html">http://www.computerworld.com/article/2911640/fcc-faces-seventh-net-neutrality-lawsuit.html</a> </div><div><br>Broadband provider CenturyLink has joined the list of ISPs and trade groups suing the U.S. Federal Communications Commission over its net neutrality rules.<br><br>CenturyLink filed its lawsuit Friday, becoming the seventh organization to challenge the rules approved by the FCC in late February. The FCC officially published the rules in the Federal Register, the official publication for U.S. agency rules, earlier this week, prompting a round of lawsuits.<br><br>The company objected to the FCC's reclassification of broadband from a lightly regulated information service to a more heavily regulated common-carrier service. CenturyLink spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year to "build, maintain and update an open Internet network and does not block or degrade lawful content," it said in a statement.<br><br>The common-carrier regulations, dating back to the 1930s, "not only have no place in the 21st century economy, but will chill innovation and investment," the company added.<br><br>The FCC is confident it will prevail in the lawsuits, Chairman Tom Wheeler said Friday.<br><br>CenturyLink, based in Monroe, Louisiana, is the third-largest telecom carrier in the U.S. It acquired Qwest in 2011, and it has about 5 million broadband customers, with its presence the strongest in the U.S. South, Mountain West and parts of the Midwest.<br><br>The six other lawsuits come from two ISPs -- AT&T and Alamo Broadband -- and trade groups CTIA, the United States Telecom Association (USTelecom), the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and the American Cable Association. Alamo and USTelecom filed lawsuits in late March, with the trade group refiling its suit on Monday. AT&T and the three other trade groups filed lawsuits on Tuesday.<br><br>The new net neutrality rules, approved by the FCC on Feb. 26, would prohibit broadband and mobile carriers from selectively blocking or slowing Web traffic. The rules reclassify broadband as a regulated telecom service, instead of treating it as a lightly regulated information service, as the FCC has done for the past decade.</div><div><br></div><div><br><div> <div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>---------------------------------------------------------</div><div>Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director</div><div>1st-Mile Institute <a target="_blank" href="http://www.1st-mile.org">www.1st-mile.org</a> </div><div>P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504</div><div>505-603-5200 <a target="_blank" href="mailto:rl@1st-mile.org">rl@1st-mile.org</a></div><div>---------------------------------------------------------</div></div><div><br></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div> <br></div><hr>_______________________________________________<br>
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