1Remarks of FCC Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn (as prepared for delivery)
“Internet Freedom Now: The Future of Civil Rights Depends on Net Neutrality”
The Voices for Internet Freedom Coalition
Washington, D.C.
November 1, 2017
Thank you to Francella for that wonderful introduction, and to the Coalition today, for 
convening this briefing on the intersection of civil rights and an open internet. I am proud to 
stand with you, Representatives Ellison and Khanna, as well as my colleague at the FCC, 
Commissioner Rosenworcel.
I feel that it is necessary to begin by giving voice to the FCC majority’s latest attempt, to 
weaken the only Universal Service program, that directly addresses the affordability gap when it 
comes to telephone and broadband service for individuals. If the goal of the current FCC 
majority is to widen existing divides, and ensure that our nation's most vulnerable are less likely 
to be connected, the Lifeline proposal before us, and slated to be voted on later this month, sets 
us squarely on that path.
Too many of our fellow citizens are stuck on the wrong side of the digital and 
opportunities divide. All of this was reinforced for me last week, during my visit to the Harlem 
Dowling West Side Center and the Vaughn Harper Computer Center in New York City, where 
efforts are underway to affordably house the economically vulnerable, bridge the technology 
divide, and connect the unconnected. While there is tremendous potential for economic growth 
and development around every block in Harlem and the other boroughs, I know that many 
families find themselves living paycheck to paycheck or with no job at all, and are choosing
between food, and being digitally connected. 
Not only should they not be forced to make such a choice, the FCC should not make it 
more difficult for them. The adults over 60 and the administrators I met at the Senior Planet 
Exploration Center last week, shared with me the challenges these seniors face in affording 
broadband. They also expressed their fear, which I share, that the challenges when it comes to 
digital inclusion, will be magnified by the proposed changes in Lifeline, including our ability to 
provide broadband support, to those who qualify.
So, in my mind, there is no question that broadband access is a civil rights issue. Why? 
Because seekers of justice today, use the internet, like civil rights leaders in the 1960s used the 
telephone, and the threat of being blocked by gatekeepers is as real now, as it was then. To get 
the word out about arrests, beatings, or other unspeakable acts, activists back then, would dial a 
Wide Area Telephone Service line to bypass a potentially unfriendly switchboard operator, who 
may have attempted to block their call. And as Congressman John Lewis once said, if they had 
the internet during the civil rights era, they “could have done much more.”
Access to broadband advances justice, and can lift up the most disenfranchised. Those 
with access are further uplifted, because they are better able to advance their education, access 
telehealth services, or apply for a job or government services. But if the FCC majority is 
successful, affording a broadband connection will not be the only barrier these families face. We 
2are weeks away, from broadband providers being given the green light, to freely engage in paid 
prioritization, blocking, throttling, or unreasonable discrimination at interconnection points. We 
are weeks away from the probability, of an entirely new and even wider divide – of those that 
can afford to pay for priority access, and others that cannot. 
Now we established a set of bright-line rules, using the strongest legal authority we have, 
known as Title II, in order to avoid this in 2015, and the D.C. Circuit upheld those 2015 rules last 
year. So why do we find ourselves weeks away from being saddled with an Order that will 
dismantle these protections? 
I’ll tell you why. The current FCC majority has once again chosen, to side with the big 
providers, while they turn their back on consumers and small business owners. Now I hear when 
they say that they support an open internet, but after you read their proposal, the next question 
you should ask, is why they are doing away with almost every legally upheld protection, adopted 
two years ago? Ask the current majority why, if they are so supportive of an open internet, do
they even question the need for a requirement, that broadband providers be transparent with their 
customers?
Last week, I met with a group of micro-business owners, during a roundtable discussion 
at Etsy’s Brooklyn headquarters. They represented a business segment too often left out of the 
net neutrality discussion: sole proprietors, that if you look, actually make up, over 70 percent of 
our nation’s businesses. Those single-person businesses, because of Etsy’s online platform, no 
longer have to spend thousands of dollars to exhibit at craft shows, they no longer have to endure 
hours of standing outside in the freezing cold and away from their families, to get their products 
to market. They now have an online market through the internet, that game changer, which has 
allowed them to spend more time with their families and focus on what they love doing the most: 
creating their crafts while earning a living.
Like you, those creative entrepreneurs are worried, that the one platform that has 
improved their quality of life and the 2015 Open Internet Order that has directly enhanced their 
ability to produce and distribute their crafts, is now at risk. Now we speak extensively at the FCC
about enacting policies to help the nation’s smallest businesses, but what I have never heard, is
anybody talk about what impact a change in our Open Internet rules, would have on the lives of 
those sole-proprietors that are now thriving online. Why? Because when the current FCC defines
that term “small business,” we often include companies that are worth millions or sometimes 
even billions of dollars. 
We are not speaking about Molly, the gemologist in Brooklyn, who can continue to
create and distribute her jewelry, while she prepares for the arrival of her newborn. 
We are not thinking about Craig, who together with his wife, uses that online platform to
avoid thousands of dollars in trade-show fees and hours away from their two children. Today,
they can make a quality living from home, just blocks away from their kids’ school.
No, the FCC majority is fixated on those billion dollar-plus public companies, and what 
is best for their bottom lines, at the expense of micro-businesses, sole proprietors, and 
3individuals that do not have the financial resources to pay a toll imposed by their broadband 
provider, who are now fearful of what rolling back the clock will mean for their bottom lines.
And that is why I am here. That is why I remain grateful to the Coalition, for convening 
today’s discussion, and for carrying on the fight for robust, open internet protections. We cannot 
remain silent while so many of our citizens are without access. We cannot hang our heads, while 
the need to close those digital canyons still exists. And we cannot get discouraged or weary. We 
must continue to push back, against those seeking to close the door for civic and economic 
opportunities for every American. We must continue to be heard.
You are right to align the current fight for civil rights, with the fight for a free and open 
Internet. You are on the right side, and history will reward you mightily. I, for one, am proud to 
stand with you and I join the many in thanking you.