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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Net neutrality is the Internet's guiding
3principle because it preserves the rights of consumers to
4communicate freely online; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Access to an open Internet gives individuals,
6associations, investors, and entrepreneurs the power to run
7small businesses, contribute to the marketplace of ideas,
8partake in civic engagement, and exercise freedom of speech;
9and
 
10    WHEREAS, The United States of America has had and embraced
11net neutrality since the creation of the Internet; our nation
12passed formal net neutrality rules in 2015 to codify the manner
13in which United States citizens have utilized online services
14and to protect the individual freedoms and right to information
15of the residents of Illinois; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Net neutrality perpetuates the way we use the
17Internet by prohibiting big utility companies from slowing
18down, blocking, or charging websites and applications United
19States citizens want to use; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Those open Internet rules ensure that consumers
21and businesses have access to a fast, fair, and open Internet

 

 

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1by ensuring that broadband providers shall not block access to
2lawful content, applications, services, or non-harmful
3devices; broadband providers shall not impair or degrade lawful
4Internet traffic on the basis of content, application, or
5service, or use of non-harmful devices; and broadband providers
6shall not favor some lawful Internet traffic over other lawful
7Internet traffic in exchange for consideration of any kind; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Without net neutrality, cable and phone companies
9could carve the Internet into fast and slow lanes, where a
10company could slow down the content of its competitors or block
11political opinions it disagreed with; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Internet companies could charge extra fees to the
13few content companies that could afford to pay for preferential
14treatment, relegating Illinois residents to a slower tier of
15service; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Because the Internet must be a place where
17companies large and small, as well as individual developers,
18can compete on a level playing field, the Illinois General
19Assembly supports net neutrality as a principle that underpins
20a fast, fair, and open Internet for consumers and businesses to
21ensure equal access to lawful content by prohibiting paid
22prioritization, throttling, and blocking; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL
2ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Illinois State
3Senate urges the United States Congress and President Trump's
4administration to advocate for the permanent adoption of net
5neutrality rules that keep the Internet free and open, allowing
6all of us to share and access information of our choosing
7without interference from big utility companies; and be it
8further
 
9    RESOLVED, That a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution
10be presented to the President of the United States, to all
11members of the United States Senate, to all members of the
12United States House of Representatives, to all members of the
13Illinois General Assembly, and to the Governor of the State of
14Illinois.