 So I wanted to give you all a little bit of an update on net neutrality So I've been talking about net neutrality now for what five years and it's been a fight to restore net neutrality and Since Biden has become president. We've been this close So there's a 2-2 split on the FCC currently to Democrats to Republicans We have a stonestly pro-net neutrality FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel and she has already made it very clear That as soon as they have a majority They're gonna restore net neutrality. They're going to undo what a jeep. I did the problem is we have one FCC Commissioner nominated by Joe potential commissioner. I should say nominated by Joe Biden Who's been in limbo for more than a year now? Republicans and some Democrats The corporatists in the Senate have done everything they can to stonewall her confirmation And they've thrown every single thing that they can at her This is somebody who's very pro-consumer also supports net neutrality And if she were confirmed then Democrats would have the majority on the FCC to restore net neutrality But they started out by attacking her and trying to de-legitimize her nomination here by saying that she was too Woke and she wants to target Fox News and strip them of their broadcasting license. It's all horseshit not actually true And a year passed and they successfully blocked her from getting confirmed and her her nomination actually expired but thankfully Biden decided to re-up that nomination and Finally, she's going to have a hearing on Valentine's Day, which is phenomenal but the latest round of attacks on Gdsown is very much in line with the anti-LGBTQ plus rhetoric that we've been hearing For the last year this whole groomer rhetoric. So the new attack is Them basically saying that she's like pro-human trafficking. I wish I were making this up So it's a deeply homophobic and bigoted attack But nonetheless, this is now what they're trying to do to deal de-legitimize her because again They know that if she's on the FCC They lose or more specifically their donors lose and net neutrality gets restored Now Thankfully a wrench was thrown into the the plans of these internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T Because certain states like California, New York, Oregon, Washington, we passed our own net neutrality laws So they initially tried to block states from doing that, but that was struck down by a judge But that same judge left up the existing net neutrality laws So they want somebody who's gonna go further and not take us back in the opposite direction when we had full net neutrality During the Obama era and so they know that their reign of terror their pro-corporate Anti-consumer reign is over as soon as she gets confirmed. So I genuinely hope that Democrats fight But this is what they have to fight. This is what we're up against So this is courtesy of the Los Angeles Times So no one should be surprised that telecommunications companies revved up opposition to the 2021 nomination of Gigi Sohn to the Federal Communications Commission After all Sohn was known as an effective critic of the industry's monopoly power and a defender of the public interest Again, she is one of the most pro-consumer Nominations that Biden could have possibly made and she's such a good pick that I was actually shocked that Biden picked her so This is an opportunity that we absolutely need to capitalize on every single one of us needs to capitalize on this So nor was it surprising that the industry would attack Sohn with lies after all That's what corporate lobbyists do for a living so far The industry has succeeded in tying up Sohn's nomination for nearly two years Thanks to Senate procedures President Biden has had to submit her name three times most recently in January And she has received two hearings now again two hearings over the course of two years That's just straight unabashed obstruction Shamelessly so in the last couple of weeks the attack on Sohn 61 who would be the first lgbtq member of the FCC Has taken a grotesquely ugly turn an obviously coordinated campaign fronted by such right-wing enterprises as Fox news Breitbart and the Daily Mail has painted Sohn as a supporter of sex trafficking And an opponent of anti-sex trafficking initiatives now When you see why they're saying this about her you're going to lose your minds So the core of this loathsome assault is that Sohn serves on the board of the electronic frontier foundation The eff is a prominent nonprofit devoted to protecting user privacy and freedom of expression online Sohn joined the eff board, which includes leading academics from uc berkeley and harvard digital entrepreneurs such as bruster kale and experts in digital security and telecommunications law in 2018 Sohn's association with eff is what has put her in the crosshairs of the far right Among the eff's targets you see is a pair of laws known as fosta ancestor ring a bell Which were enacted in 2018 during a congressional panic over online child sex trafficking Fosta and sesta the acronyms stand for the allow states and victims to fight online sex trafficking act And the stop enabling sex traffickers act have proved to be largely ineffective For their stated purpose and rife with adverse side effects more on that in a moment So in their attacks all published on january 26th and 27th and by the way Very very conspicuous here. This is a coordinated propaganda effort all published within the span of two days I mean, there's so shameless the industry is absolutely behind all of this but all published January 26 and 27th fox brightbart and the mail used almost identical headlines stating that sohn sits on the board Of eff all tried to link her with daniel blunt A professional dominatrix has been in the forefront of organized opposition to fosta and sesta And support for the rights of sex workers and who received an award from eff in 2020 For her efforts to fight online censorship now fosta and sesta is that controversial law that a lot of sex workers spoke out against Because they stated that that would harm them and even bernie sanders got some criticism for supporting that particular law but because of this board and Their opposition to fosta and sesta That right there is all that the gop or the industry through their propaganda proxies needed to say oh see Gigi sohn shouldn't serve on the FCC because she supports human trafficking and sex trafficking It's just Shameless it's shameless But this is what they have to do because they can't just say donor proofer Because she's against us and for the consumer So they have to make up some bogus nonsense like this in order to slander her What's important here is that sohn has never spoken about fosta and sesta And in any event the FCC has absolutely nothing to do with laws with the laws or their purpose The commission doesn't regulate online advertising and fosta and sesta doesn't apply to telecommunications Do you think that they know this? Of course, they know this Of course, they know this they initially started fear mongering about gigi sohn Basically saying that she would do all all sorts of terrible things Which the FCC doesn't even have the jurisdiction to do like the FCC really has limited regulatory Control, but they made it seem as if she's going to like unilaterally crack down on fox news and conservative media in some authoritarian way When that's just not true That's just not true. She wants to get on the FCC to work for The consumers which is a change because we've had a very pro-industry FCC For a while now and it's been deadlocked. So She is not what they say But again, they have to be disingenuous. Otherwise normal people wouldn't fall for their bullshit That exposes the effort to link zone to the targets of fosta and sesta and paint her as an advocate of sex trafficking As nothing but a cynical political ploy with an accurate undercurrent of homophobia What may be even more appalling is that today democrats haven't yet called out the perpetrators of this campaign Which is one thing that frustrates me right biden rather than just like having to renominate her Once every year you could actually condemn these attacks and defend your nomination Has that ever even occurred to democrats to maybe fight for once? The defense of sones nomination has volunteered supporters outside the political mainstream the eff and a january 31st statement Decried but it labeled an attempt to twist eff's long-held positions and commitments into dog whistles against miss sone and it is a dog whistle because this whole association with Gays and pedophiles or sex traffickers and perverts It's the oldest trope in the book and it's been revived So it's not surprising to see them revive this Against you know a potential FCC commissioner that they're vehemently opposed to for different reasons A resounding note of defense was sounded by Preston Patton a former executive of fox abc and wall disney Who has supported sones nomination even though as he observes their political outlooks are pulls apart In a letter to Maria Cantwell shared the senate commerce committee, which is planning yet a third hearing on sones nomination Patton condemned the latest campaign as beneath scurrilous and the most cynical and baseless smear campaign ever waged Against a nominee to serve the FCC and here's what i've got to say. Oh, we have a dog back Here's what i've got to say Republicans might have gone so far in their attack Against gg sony here that they almost forced democrats and other people who just see how brazen they are to respond to this This tabloid trash At its worst as Patton labeled it is all brought to you i believe by agents of some of the country's biggest cable companies and isps Obviously Obviously i've reached out to Verizon and Comcast leaders in the industries Patton named and the us chamber of commerce Which has been prominent in the opposition to sones nomination? I wonder why but haven't heard back the the attack on sone Is one in a line of concerted attacks on biden nominees feared by big big business because of their likely effectiveness Um, let's let's go a little bit further down here Because i want to see Okay, yeah, so here's a little bit more backstory about their opposition to her uh confirmation The industry's original campaign against sone relied on gross misrepresentations of her speeches and writings to pain her as an enemy of diversity In telecommunications and as an advocate of suppressing conservative viewpoints So we talked about that earlier, but just showing you it's been well documented Um, she's a strong defender of diversity now. Let's get to foster ancestor So as for the latest campaign it relies on a knee jerk assumption that congress's effort to eradicate online sex trafficking Is worthy of admiration and support despite the shortcomings of foster ancestor The laws were signed in 2018 shortly after the government shut down Backpage.com a website used by sex workers to connect with clients But also according to congressional investigators and law enforcement used by sex traffickers The laws essentially carved out sex related advertisements as exceptions to the safeguards of section 230 of the communications decency act Which renders online platforms immune from liability for user posted content Blunt and others maintain that foster ancestors increase the dangers for sex workers by censoring online platforms They used to safely screen clients the laws forced many back to making assignations On the street or through pimps. So this is why so many sex workers Uh opposed foster ancestors because it made them more vulnerable, right? When you Take this thing and you relegate it to The dark web and you Make it so that way, you know, um sex workers have to go back to the streets Where it's, you know, um, there's less daylight on it. You just endanger their lives and this was a step backwards Um, according to a lot of sex workers But working online gave sex workers more autonomy over their labor and reduced the need to work under pimps and exploitative management According to a report co-authored by blunt and issued by hacking hustling a sex worker collective She co-founded criticism of foster ancestor Has also come from the government's accountability office surely among the most buttoned down of government agencies Which reported in 2021 that gathering tips and evidence to investigate and prosecute those who control or use online platforms Has become more difficult since the laws enacted due to the relocation of platforms overseas platforms use of complex payment systems And the increased use of social social media platforms So usually the LA times has a paywall. So if you can't read this article, I'd recommend this write up by Jessica corporate of common dreams And um, I want to encourage you to sign this petition at battle for the net dot com So battle for the net is one of the Best organizations like I'd say the leading organization fighting to restore net neutrality And they've been all over this so the petition is tell democratic leaders condemn the homophobic attacks on FCC nominee gg So and I get that like petitions nowadays usually don't Do anything I get that you feel as if it's useless, but It takes two seconds So if you can make a big enough stink Then you know, I think that that's really Really a small thing that you can do if you believe in net neutrality So they explain here that you know, remember when a g pie took over the FCC and got a net neutrality We've been working for years to overturn that corrupt move And we finally got our chance when the Biden administration nominated gg sone a highly qualified public interest advocate Who unlike pie has never worked for the telecom industry But sone has been awaiting senate confirmation for over two years And now she's being attacked. So signed a petition. I mean look it takes a couple of seconds and It's important because lawmakers need to know That there is enough momentum for this And this is a small thing that we can do to exert a minimal amount of pressure on democrats to get them to pay attention We're almost at 100,000 If we can get over 100,000 we're like almost there then I think That's great, right? So that's your update on net neutrality. All we have to do is confirm gg sone And um, that's it a jude pie's legacy is flushed down the toilet like that So, yeah, really important pay attention to that confirmation hearing and if you have, um any Democratic senators, um, who are representing you or even hell republican senators That's not like they're gonna listen, but they should still receive pressure Um, give them a call leave them a message and let them know that you strongly support the confirmation of gg sone You're tired of g. O. P. Uh senator stonewalling this effort And it's time to confirm her once and for all so she could conduct the work At the behest of consumers that biden nominated her to do