TechCrunch Interview: Senator Al Franken Talks Net Neutrality (And His Morning Workout Routine)

If you care about the well-being of the Internet, you care about net neutrality. You just might not realize it yet.

This morning, Senator Al Franken took to the stage at SXSW Interactive to talk about the issue in front of a crowd of tech-savvy entrepreneurs and creatives, where he urged them to reach out to their representatives in Congress and let them know just how important net neutrality is to keeping the web healthy. Franken has previously described it as the most important free speech issue of our time, and he’s worried that the equality we’ve come to expect on the web may soon be undermined by major corporations.

Just before he gave his speech, we had the chance to sit down with Senator Franken to discuss the current status of the ongoing debate around net neutrality, and why it’s important that the public becomes involved in the campaign. We also touched on Franken’s recent letter to Facebook over the social network’s plans to grant third parties access to user phone numbers and addresses. And yes, we even got to know a little bit about his morning workout routine — which sounds rigorous. Tune in to the video above to learn more.

Franken closed out his talk at SXSW with the following message:

Let’s not sell out. And let’s not let the government sell us out. Let’s fight for net neutrality. Let’s keep Austin weird. Let’s keep the Internet weird. Let’s keep the Internet free.