: For Students, Faculty, and Staff 
Sen. Al Franken speaking at the press conference as Megan Kocher looks on. Photo from KARE 11 news coverage.
The University Libraries’ Megan Kocher joined Sen. Al Franken last week in urging the Federal Communications Commission to keep internet protections put in place by the Obama administration in 2015 that would prevent internet service providers from creating so-called fast lanes for websites willing to pay.
Kocher, a science librarian who also is chair of the Minnesota Library Association’s intellectual freedom committee, spoke at a September 1 press conference at Hennepin County’s Minneapolis Central Library. The briefing was covered by MPR News and KARE 11.
“The speed with which you access information is not a convenience; it is access,” said Kocher. “I want to reiterate that speed equals access.”
Franken says the implementation of new internet access rules would pose “an enormous threat” to freedom of speech and democracy.
“We have to keep the pressure on them to pay attention to the American people, the American people, who overwhelmingly want us to maintain net neutrality, who overwhelmingly want us to keep an open internet,” Franken said.
