August 13, 2014

The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write to request a meeting with you to discuss the future of the open Internet. For years, both as a
candidate for president and from the Oval Office, you have spoken passionately and clearly about the
importance of Net Neutrality for free speech and economic innovation.

We applaud your remarks on Aug. 5 at the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit in favor of strong Net Neutrality
protections. We strongly agree with your statement: You dont want to start getting a differentiation in how
accessible the Internet is to different users. You want to leave it open so the next Google and the next
Facebook can succeed.

We write you today because we are gravely concerned that a pending proposal before the Federal
Communications Commission, where one of us served from 20012011 as a commissioner and your interim
chairman, will undermine Net Neutrality and imperil the future of the open Internet. The proposal would
permit Internet service providers to bifurcate the network into fast lanes for the few who can pay and slow
lanes for the rest of us. Gatekeeper control over whether and how people can access information makes a
mockery of the dynamic nature of the Internet, stifles innovation, and jeopardizes our civic dialogue.
Moreover, we must safeguard Internet openness to ensure it remains a platform for civic and technological
innovation.

More than a million people have filed public comments with the FCC urging the agency to once again treat
broadband as a telecommunications service under the law. This would restore the Title II legal foundation for
the FCC to guarantee basic consumer protections and free expression on broadband networks the
infrastructure that you have done so much to encourage throughout your administration.

Our nations Internet future is on the line, and a wrong decision now will inflict irreparable damage to a
platform that is central to our economic and social progress. We request a meeting to discuss how to solidify
open Internet protections.

We do not seek a meeting lightly, knowing the incredible demands on your time. If we thought it was anything
less than urgent, we would not do so.

Respectfully,


Michael J. Copps Craig Aaron
Media & Democracy Reform Initiative President and CEO
Common Cause Free Press
FCC Commissioner, 20012011