FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Tech

The Rare, Heartfelt Letters People Wrote by Hand to Fight for Net Neutrality

Of the nearly 1 million comments the FCC has gotten about net neutrality, roughly 30 have been handwritten letters.

Net neutrality is, inherently, a topic that lends itself to digital ink. The issue is discussed on Reddit, in emails and on blog posts. It's fought between companies through error messages on digital streaming video sites, and it's defended with hundreds of thousands of comments filed electronically. A very, very small subsection of the population, however, decided to voice their opinion the old-fashioned way, putting pen to paper and sending their thoughts about net neutrality to the Federal Communications Commission.

Advertisement

By the time tomorrow's deadline rolls around, there will be nearly a million comments filed with the FCC about its proposed rule to allow internet service providers to create an "internet fast lane" that would prioritize certain types of content, fundamentally changing how the internet has always existed. Among those many hundreds of thousands of submissions, this is a sampling of the 30 or so postcards and letters written and mailed to FCC head Tom Wheeler (for the record, a good 50 more sent in faxes).

FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn famously said that it became clear to her that net neutrality was a big issue because her mother, who normally doesn't pay attention to such things, called her about it. If there's any doubt that the issue has pervaded the public consciousness, take a look at these letters—they're written by grandmothers and school children, by people who cut out editorial cartoons and newspaper columns and who live in Japan.

One, easily my favorite, was written by Barbara Cressman, a 76-year-old grandmother who attempted to email her comments to "fcc.gov/comments." When it bounced back ("it didn't go through!," she wrote), she printed it out, added to it, and mailed it in: "I am nearly 77 and technologically inept, but I do love my Mac and my grandkids on Facebook and emails from my near & dear. Please do not make problems for me by changing the net neutrality business!"

Advertisement

Another woman, who happens to be from the town I went to high school in because, of course she is, wrote that "although I am almost 83 years old, I joined a rally protesting [net neutrality changes]."

Anyway, hope you enjoy these as much as I did: