Ahead of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proceedings this Thursday that will determine new rules for how Internet Service Providers (ISPs) control internet access, 24 CEOs and founders associated with web companies, including Facebook, Google, Amazon and Twitter, have put their names to an FCC-bound letter, urging it to adopt rules that will “preserve an open internet”.
The letter to the independent US government agency expresses support for the FCC’s announcement that it will begin a process for adopting rules to preserve an open internet, stating this environment “fuels a competitive and efficient marketplace, where consumers make the ultimate choices about which products succeed and which fail. This allows businesses of all sizes, from the smallest start-up to larger corporations, to compete, yielding maximum economic growth and opportunity.”
The letter was signed by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Digg co-founders Kevin Rose and Jay Adelson, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Executives from LinkedIn, Skype, eBay, YouTube, Mozilla and TiVo also put their names to the letter.
This letter follows opposing net neutrality views in the past few weeks, including a letter sent to the FCC last week from 72 members of the US congress asking that it “reiterate” an historic commitment to a “restrained regulatory approach”.
By Marie Boran
Photo: Two dozen CEOs and founders of web companies have added their names to a letter for the Federal Communications Commission, urging it to adopt rules that will “preserve an open internet”.
