If you are a tenant in Oakland stuck with a single internet provider due to an exclusivity agreement enforced by your landlord,
You can help stop landlord-ISP payola.
The Oakland Internet Choice Coalition formed in Fall 2018 after an Oakland tenant stuck with one expensive internet provider reached out to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for solutions.
Short term goals
• Bring Oakland a version of San Francisco’s Communications Choice ordinance.
• Provide protection for Oakland tenants who want to use alternative ISPs.
• Allow consumers to vote with their pocketbooks for internet providers that abide by network neutrality principles and don’t sell browsing data.
• Establish a process for smaller providers to gain access to multi-dwelling unit buildings (MDUs) in Oakland and serve tenants in those buildings.
• Prevent landlords from forcing kickbacks and “payola” by ISPs, while permitting reasonable site use fees.
• Eliminate exclusive per-building arrangements by ISPs, permitting competition and lower costs for tenants.
Long term goals
• Setting modern, open wiring standards for all buildings.
• Pulling more publicly-owned and open fiber, all in the interests of increasing choice.
• Decreasing the average cost of broadband for tenants.
• Letting residents support net neutrality and better privacy practices with the money they spend on Internet access.