Take That, Janet Jackson’s Nipple #InternetSlowdown

Public advocacy groups and internet companies from across the web banned together on September 10th for an action dubbed The Great Internet Slowdown. Participating websites displayed a loading animation and a message warning visitors that net neutrality is in danger. They also provided a way for internet users to make their voices heard and let the FCC know of their displeasure for Comcast and other internet service providers who are advocating for the removal of net neutrality rules.

A Wave of Feedback

The day of action was a great success with companies from Netflix, to Etsy, Kickstarter, to Foursquare, Vimeo, to Tumblr all participating. The action generated over 700,000 comments from internet users to the FCC, as well as over 2,000,000 emails, and over 300,000 phone calls made to the White House and members of Congress. At one point the Internet Slowdown tool was facilitating over 1,000 calls per minute. This type of mass feedback from internet users to Washington D.C. was exactly what the organizers hoped to achieve. Check out this cool infographic that the organizers made showing the impact of the day’s actions.

So what does all of this have to do with Janet Jackson?

Well, with this influx of comments to the FCC, net neutrality finally dethroned the incident Janet Jackson’s 2004 Superbowl “wardrobe malfunction” as the number one most commented issue at the FCC. That’s right, for the past 10 years the FCC had received more comments about Janet Jackson’s breast than any other issue. However we can now close that dark chapter in history as the FCC has now received more than 1.4 million comments about net neutrality.

Take Action

In case you missed your chance to make your voice hear, not not fear!
The FCC is taking comments until September 15th, just visit battleforthenet.com to get started!
{"cc_re__cc_re__cc_by_sa_3_0": ["archform\" class=\"searchform\" action=\"http://leftwardthinking.com/\">\n\t\t\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<label class=\"screen-reader-text\" for=\"s\">Search for:</label>\n\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" value=\"\" name=\"s\" id=\"s\" />\n\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" id=\"searchsubmit\" value=\"Search\" />\n\t\t\t\t</div>\n\t\t\t</form>\n\t\t\t</li>\n\n\t\t\t<li id=\"text-3\" class=\"widget widget_text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"widgettitle\">Creative Commons </h3>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\">I oppose traditional copyright terms, so the work on this website is licensed under <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" target=\"_blank\">THIS</a> Creative Commons License. <br><a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://leftwardthinking.com/resources/creativeCommons.png\"></a>  </div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t</li>\n\t\t\t</ul>\n\t\t</div><!-- #ternary .sidebar -->\n\t\t\t<div id=\"footer\">\n\t\t\t\t<span id=\"generator-link\"><a href=\"http://wordpress.org/\" title=\"WordPress\" rel=\"generator\">WordPress</a></span>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"meta-sep\">|</span>\n\t\t\t\t<span id=\"theme-link\"><a href=\"http://somadesign.ca/\" title=\"The Erudite", "ext\" for=\"s\">Search for:</label>\n\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" value=\"\" name=\"s\" id=\"s\" />\n\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" id=\"searchsubmit\" value=\"Search\" />\n\t\t\t\t</div>\n\t\t\t</form>\n\t\t\t</li>\n\n\t\t\t<li id=\"text-3\" class=\"widget widget_text\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"widgettitle\">Creative Commons </h3>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\">I oppose traditional copyright terms, so the work on this website is licensed under <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" target=\"_blank\">THIS</a> Creative Commons License. <br><a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://leftwardthinking.com/resources/creativeCommons.png\"></a>  </div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t</li>\n\t\t\t</ul>\n\t\t</div><!-- #ternary .sidebar -->\n\t\t\t<div id=\"footer\">\n\t\t\t\t<span id=\"generator-link\"><a href=\"http://wordpress.org/\" title=\"WordPress\" rel=\"generator\">WordPress</a></span>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"meta-sep\">|</span>\n\t\t\t\t<span id=\"theme-link\"><a href=\"http://somadesign.ca/\" title=\"The Erudite theme for WordPress\" rel=\"designer nofollow\">The Erudite</a></span>\n\t\t\t</div><!-- #footer -->\n\t\t</div><!-- #foo"], "copyright__copyright__copyright": ["malfunction\u201d as the number one most commented issue at the FCC. That\u2019s right, for the past 10 years the FCC had received more comments about Janet Jackson\u2019s breast than any other issue. However we can now close that dark chapter in history as the FCC has now received more than 1.4 million comments about net neutrality.\n\nTake Action\n\nIn case you missed your chance to make your voice hear, not not fear!\nThe FCC is taking comments until September 15th, just visit battleforthenet.com to get started!", "malfunction\u201d as the number one most commented issue at the FCC. That\u2019s right, for the past 10 years the FCC had received more comments about Janet Jackson\u2019s breast than any other issue. However we can now close that dark chapter in history as the FCC has now received more than 1.4 million comments about net neutrality.\n\nTake Action\n\nIn case you missed your chance to make your voice hear, not not fear!\nThe FCC is taking comments until September 15th, just visit battleforthenet.com to get started!", "malfunction\u201d as the number one most commented issue at the FCC. That\u2019s right, for the past 10 years the FCC had received more comments about Janet Jackson\u2019s breast than any other issue. However we can now close that dark chapter in history as the FCC has now received more than 1.4 million comments about net neutrality.\n\nTake Action\n\nIn case you missed your chance to make your voice hear, not not fear!\nThe FCC is taking comments until September 15th, just visit battleforthenet.com to get started!", "malfunction\u201d as the number one most commented issue at the FCC. That\u2019s right, for the past 10 years the FCC had received more comments about Janet Jackson\u2019s breast than any other issue. However we can now close that dark chapter in history as the FCC has now received more than 1.4 million comments about net neutrality.\n\nTake Action\n\nIn case you missed your chance to make your voice hear, not not fear!\nThe FCC is taking comments until September 15th, just visit battleforthenet.com to get started!"]}