Net neutrality advocates on Wednesday are holding a “Day of Action,” perhaps their final push to keep the Internet “open, fast and awesome.”

The issue of net neutrality, the notion that Internet service providers shouldn’t limit delivery of any content in favor of their own or partners’, has become quite the cause célèbre, a story that concerns the limitations of what Internet service providers can and can’t do. Content providers, and much of the public, are concerned that ISPs will throttle traffic, or block and censor certain content.

Fight for the Future, which is organizing the Day of Action, puts it this way: “Without net neutrality, the Internet will become more like Cable TV, where the content you see is what your provider puts in front of you.”

Participating in the day of action will be a large number of websites, including big names such as Amazon, Netflix, Reddit, Vimeo and Pornhub. A statement made by the group tells the consumer, “We’ve shown time and time again that when the Internet comes together, we can stop censorship and corruption.”

What’s going to happen is that pretty much anyone using the web on July 12 will see banners and alerts calling for support of net neutrality. People will be asked to add pro-net neutrality banners to their own website, or to add push notifications to their app. They might also be asked to use a pro-net neutrality avatar on their social media platform of choice, or just share anything they see related to the big bad wolves of the Federal Communications Commission, which has scuttled net neutrality rules following the election of President Donald Trump, and the likes of Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp.

AT&T Inc. can also join this list, having a history of violating Internet protections and lobbying against the free and open Internet fought for in the past. In spite of this, the company oddly said it’s joining in the support for net neutrality during the Day of Action.

In a statement, AT&T said while it “may seem like an anomaly to many people” why it will be joining in the protest, it also said it has always espoused the condition that no company should be allowed to abuse its power to block or throttle traffic. The company will reportedly go as far as airing ads in support of net neutrality. AT&T is not the only cable company to have said it stands behind net neutrality while also claiming that regulations have hampered their growth.

Fight for the Future issued a statement in reaction to AT&T’s surprising move, with spokesperson Evan Greer calling it a “campaign of misinformation” that had made him “laugh out loud.” He wasn’t alone in his incredulity at AT&T’s professed support of net neutrality.

“AT&T and other companies like Comcast and Verizon have waged an all out war on net neutrality protections, because they want to be able to charge Internet users and startups extra fees, and squeeze all of us for more money for less Internet,” Greer said.

Image: Battleforthenet.com