Net neutrality advocates are taking to the skies over Austin, Texas, this weekend to hit Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for his opposition to net neutrality.
A plane dragging a 1,500-square-foot banner reading “Don’t be an enemy of the Internet, Sen. Ted Cruz,” will fly above the Texas capital on Friday and Saturday afternoons, while the South by Southwest festival goes on down below.
{mosads}Cruz has been one of Congress’s most vocal critics of federal net neutrality regulations, which attempt to ensure that Internet service providers such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable treat all online traffic equally.
Last year, he called it “ObamaCare for the Internet.”
The banner-toting plane is being launched by Demand Progress, Fight for the Future and Free Press, which all lobbied vigorously in support of tough net neutrality rules over the last year. In February, the three groups flew a similar banner above Comcast’s headquarters in Philadelphia, while using the popular online meme Grumpy Cat to protest the cable giant’s opposition to new regulations.
“Our banner is an Internet-backed reminder to Cruz and all politicians that if you stand against net neutrality, you are standing against the Internet,” Demand Progress executive director David Segal said in a statement.
Last month, the Federal Communications Commission imposed the toughest Internet regulations the U.S. has ever seen by regulating the Web like a public utility.
Groups like Free Press, Demand Progress and Fight for the Future, among others, were critical in getting the agency’s three Democrats to embrace those rules, and helped to drive about 4 million public comments to the FCC over the last year — far more than it had ever seen before.