Internet Slowdown: Online Protest Warns Users of What's to Come if Net Neutrality Rules Redrawn

If your favorite website seems to load slowly today, take a closer lookYou might be experiencing the Battle for the Net’s "Internet Slowdown," a global day of action. The Internet won't actually be slowing down, but many sites are placing on their homepages animated “Loading” graphics , which organizers call “the proverbial ‘spinning wheel of death,’ to symbolize what the Internet might soon look like. Large Internet service providers, or ISPs, like Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T and Verizon, are trying to change the rules that govern the Internet. Some of the biggest companies on the Internet Netflix, Mozilla, Kickstarter, Etsy and WordPress are joining today's Internet Slowdown to draw attention to net neutrality, the principle that service providers shouldn't be allowed to speed up, or slow down, loading times on certain websites, such as their competitors. This comes as 27 online advocacy groups sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler Tuesday, calling on him to participate in town hallstyle public hearings on net neutrality before ruling on the issue as early as this year. We are joined by Tim Karr of the group Free Press, one of the main organizers of the Internet Slowdown global day of action.

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