Wednesday, January 24, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo today issued an executive order requiring internet service providers seeking to do business with the state to adhere to the principles of net neutrality. New York is the second state to issue such an order, as Montana Gov. Steve Bullock issued a similar executive order earlier this week.
Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization division of Consumer Reports, praised the states for taking action to preserve the open internet and better protect consumers. More than 20 state attorneys general have also filed a challenge to the FCC’s net neutrality repeal in federal appeals court.
Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union, said, “We’re encouraged that states are taking action to protect and preserve the internet as we know it. Strong net neutrality rules are vital to consumers’ everyday lives and essential to keeping the internet an open marketplace where companies large and small compete on equal terms. These governors are doing what the FCC chose not to do — listening to consumers who overwhelmingly support net neutrality rules — and sending a strong message to internet service providers looking to do business in their states.”
A recent nationally-representative survey by Consumer Reports says the majority of Americans support net neutrality rules to prevent internet service providers from blocking or discriminating against lawful content on the internet. The CR survey finds 57 percent of Americans support the current net neutrality rules, while 16 percent oppose them and 27 percent did not state an opinion. The survey shows strong opposition to practices by providers that would be prohibited by net neutrality rules, such as the 67 percent who disagree that providers should be able to choose which websites, apps or streaming services customers can access.
The Consumer Reports phone survey was fielded by ORC using a nationally-representative sample. The survey was conducted from July 20-23, 2017. The study was conducted using two probability samples: randomly selected landline telephone numbers and randomly selected mobile (cell) telephone numbers. The combined sample consists of 1,005 adults (18 years old and older) living in the continental United States. Of the 1,005 interviews, 504 were from the landline sample and 501 from the cell phone sample. The margin of error for the sample of 1,005 is +/- 3.1% at the 95% confidence level. Final data is weighted by age, gender, region, race/ethnicity and education to be proportionally representative of the U.S. adult population.