Sites install widgets to show how the internet would look if regulators caved in to big cable companies on net neutrality
Dominic Rushe in New York
Kickstarter on Wednesday morning made its point on how new rules would ‘destroy net neutrality’. Photograph: screengrab Much of the internet went on a “go-slow” protest Wednesday as some of the world’s largest tech companies began a protest over proposals that could create fast web lanes for some companies.
Tech firms including Netflix, Etsy, FourSquare, KickStarter, Mozilla, Reddit, PornHub and Vimeo installed a widget on their sites to show how they believe the internet would look if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) overturns “net neutrality” rules.
Some sites, like Netflix, used a popup widget to explain the slowdown. See more images here Photograph: screengrab
The FCC is currently redrawing its rules after a series of legal challenges from cable and telecoms companies undermined its authority to regulate the internet. One proposal could allow internet service providers to offer fast lanes to higher-paying customers, a move critics charge would break net neutrality – the principle that all traffic is treated equally online.
The organisers have called on supporters to spend the day calling Congress to lobby the FCC to protect neutrality.
Evan Greer, co-founder of Fight for the Future, a pressure group helping to organise the protest day, said in an email: “Net neutrality is tough to explain to people, so we wanted to organize an action that actually shows the world what’s at stake. I think the three most hated words on the internet right now are ‘Please wait, loading … ’
“Unless internet users unite in defence of net neutrality, we could be seeing those dreaded ‘loading’ wheels a lot more often on some of our favourite websites, while monopolistic companies get to decide which content gets seen by the most people.”
Several other large internet companies are expected to back the day of action, which is being coordinated by Silicon Valley lobby group Engine. Two of the world’s biggest porn sites, Pornhub and RedTube, have said they will join, promising “in-your-face” support.
“We’ll be displaying an official widget from battleforthenet.com. We won’t be shutting down, or streaming your porn slower. There will be a big in-your-face message that users will need to close. We hope to reach around 50m people on Sept 10,” a Pornhub spokeswoman wrote on Reddit.
Pornhub and RedTube are owned by Mindgeek, a Luxembourg-based conglomerate that claims to be one of the top five bandwidth consumers in the world, generating 1.7bn visits per month.
The organizers, Engine, are directing people to call or email policymakers with their concerns. A similar campaign led to the FCC being flooded with comments on the net neutrality legislation – so many tha