Mobile Justice: The Campaign for Consumer Protections on Cell Phones and Wireless Devices

The Campaign aims to ensure consumer protections on cell phones and wireless devices through state and local mapping, policy reforms, a dedicated local-to-local strategy to defeat the proposed AT&T merger, and applied mechanisms at the state and local level to issue complaints for wireless consumers. 

In December 2010 the FCC passed rules that provide only the most minimal consumer protections to wireless users. These new rules created a segregated Internet where wireless users are left with blocked and tiered service. According to a report by the Pew Research Center, 18% of blacks and 16% of English-speaking Latinos access the Internet only from their cell phones, compared with 10% of whites. Latinos and African Americans are more likely to access the web via their cell phones, and they are often limited in the content they can access and the functionality that is available for their everyday needs like access to jobs, education, housing and healthcare.  The Consumer Protections on Cellphone and Wireless Devices Campaign will coordinate joint MAG-Net strategic actions, collect, popularize and share stories and complaints from community members who are most affected by wireless policy inequities.  People’s Production House and Media Literacy Project, two of campaign’s lead members will nationally distribute their cellphone literacy toolkit/curriculum to the network and other justice sectors to use in their organizing and education activities for wireless rights.

The Media Literacy Project (MLP) in Albuquerque, New Mexico and People’s Production House (PPH) in New York City, two MAG-Net anchor organizations are the campaign leads, with technical support provided by Center for Media Justice.

Through this campaign, MAG-Net continues to build on our organizing work around these key mobile/phone protections policy issues specially around: 1) Opposing the AT&T/ T-Mobile Merger, 2) Advocating for Net Neutrality Protections (both on Wired and Wireless devices), 3) Fighting for Broadband Access, Rights, Power and Adoption, and 4) Universal Service Fund Reforms.