Thread by @Alyssa_Milano

IMPORTANT: Everyone who cares about keeping the Internet free & open for all should be paying attention to California. #SB822, a bill to restore #NetNeutrality that’s facing a crucial committee hearing THIS WEDNESDAY

Take action: battleforthenet.com/call/california (THREAD)

Trump & @AjitPaiFCC's resoundingly unpopular repeal of #NetNeutrality *just* went into effect. But dozens of states are fighting back. Substantively, the California bills are the best ones in the country, hands down. But they're in serious danger of getting gutted or voted down.

The bills already passed the California State Senate, despite fierce lobbying from monopoly ISPs like AT&T and Comcast. They're playing dirty, hiring up tons of contract lobbyists in Sacramento and flooding California lawmakers with misinfo-- lies. With lies.

This Wednesday, there will be a crucial vote in the Communications and Conveyance Committee. And activists on the ground say there is a huge danger that the bill could be destroyed at that hearing -- ISP lobbyists are doing everything in their power to make that happen.

The head of the committee Miguel Santiago (@SantiagoAD53) refuses to pass a strong bill and wants to gut key protections. He needs to hear from you and know the whole Internet is watching. The committee should pass #SB822 & #SB460 & resist attempts to weaken them & add loopholes

It's unthinkable that California Democrats would even consider weakening this #NetNeutrality bill in the immediate wake of the Trump FCC repeal and the AT&T / Time Warner merger. But giant telecom companies have a terrifying amount of influence over our government.

The most cynical and offensive thing these giant ISPs are doing is publishing misleading studies and funding astroturf groups to claim that restoring #NetNeutrality is somehow bad for low-income people and communities of color. This couldn't be further from the truth.

For instance-AT&T doesn’t count its video services against user’s low data caps, but counts all other video services. That way we will consume its content, not the information that we choose or create. SB822 bans that but doesn’t ban zero-rating plans that don’t pick and choose.

AT&T says that ban hurts the poor. NOPE. You know what hurts pocketbooks? Expensive plans & low data caps. When bad zero-rating schemes are banned, as in India and Canada, data caps go UP and prices come down, and people used the net how they want to use it.

That's why groups like @mediajustice @ColorOfChange @NHMC and @CAindivisible support this effort to restore real #NetNeutrality protections, to ensure that marginalized voices are not silenced by mega-corporations in pursuit of maximum profit.

The California #NetNeutrality fight will have implications for the entire country. For the entire Internet, really. If this bills passes, it will set a gold standard for other states to follow, and build momentum for restoring open Internet protections at the Federal level.

Again there is a key hearing THIS WEDNESDAY. Here's how you can help:

1) Call the committee members here: battleforthenet.com/call/california

2) Use this link to find your Facebook friends who live in California and tell them to call: facebook.com/search/top/?q=…

3) Retweet to sound the alarm