Three years ago, late night comedian John Oliver propelled an arcane telecom topic into the national debate by spurring millions of ordinary Americans to file comments with the Federal Communications Commission in favor of "net neutrality." Now, he's back at it. On Sunday night, Oliver devoted a chunk of his Last Week Tonight show to condemning a plan by the FCC's new Chairman, Ajit Pai, to tear up current net neutrality rules, which forbid Internet providers from delivering some websites faster than others.
In the clip, Oliver urges viewers to visit a website called "GoFCCYourself," which redirects users to a section of the FCC site where people can comment on the net neutrality proceeding, known as "Restoring Internet Freedom" in Pai's parlance. Viewers took up Oliver's offer in spades—so much so that the FCC's servers appeared to be overwhelmed by the flood of traffic. The comment page is currently loading with delays and, according to reports from several outlets, including Motherboard, the site went down altogether for a while.
But even if Oliver's latest broadside spurs a wave of activism, it's unclear if that will do anything to sway Pai. The new chair is ideologically opposed to regulation and, with a Republican majority on the Commission, appears intent on ending net neutrality.
Here is a link to a clip from Oliver's show.
Credits:
http://fortune.com/2017/05/08/john-oliver-net-neutrality/
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