Google and Facebook, two companies that generally stay on the other side of the Net Neutrality debate, have told reporters they will be participating in the July 12th net neutrality protest. Karl Bode reporting in DSL Reports writes: “If you hadn’t heard, hundreds of companies and organizations are staging an online and offline protest on Wednesday to combat the Trump administration’s attempt to gut popular consumer net neutrality protections. Companies including Amazon, Reddit, Mozilla and countless others will change their front pages to warn of the assault on what’s being called a ‘Day of Action’ [website here]. The hope is to generate the same type of backlash that helped bring down the highly-controversial SOPA/PIPA legislation several years ago… While both companies [Google and Facebook] say they’re invested in Wednesday’s protest, the extent of their cooperation—and the depth of their actual commitment—remains a major question.”

— Update / Jul 11: AT&T to join the ‘Day of Action’ – Bob Quinn, Senior Executive Vice President of External and Legislative Affairs, writes: “Tomorrow, AT&T will join the ‘Day of Action’ for preserving and advancing an open internet. This may seem like an anomaly to many people who might question why AT&T is joining with those who have differing viewpoints on how to ensure an open and free internet. But that’s exactly the point—we all agree that an open internet is critical for ensuring freedom of expression and a free flow of ideas and commerce in the United States and around the world.”

— Update / Jul 11: What is AT&T really up to? Karl Bode from DSL Reports writes: “Tomorrow’s major protest opposing the Trump FCC attack on net neutrality has been joined by a decidedly odd ally: AT&T. Outside of perhaps Verizon and Comcast, there hasn’t been a bigger enemy of net neutrality over the years than AT&T, which alongside Verizon and Comcast has spent $572 million to kill net neutrality protections since 2008. Whether talking about AT&T’s decision to block Facetime to drive users to more expensive plans, or its use of zero rating to hamstring streaming competitors, AT&T’s frontal assault on a healthy, open internet is utterly indisputable. So it’s incredible to see a blog post pop up today by AT&T’s top policy man Bob Quinn, who proudly announced that the company would be participating in tomorrow’s protest. Why?”