Chances are you’re holding your phone. Or it’s in your pocket, or at least within arms length. Wherever it is, grab it, and then dial 202 – 418 –1000 and ask for Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

Repeat that yes, you would like to speak with Julius directly. When you get put on hold, practice your script in which you tell him (or the poor proxy who’s actually taking all these calls) that you do not want the FCC to cut a backroom deal with corporations that could kill the open Internet.

Right now, the FCC is reportedly nearing consensus on a private agreement with industry lobbyists and corporations that would radically redesign the Web, allowing broadband providers to offer exclusive access to companies that can afford to pay the added toll.

The deal would let companies like Comcast and AT&T favor their own video services, voice applications and social media over others, insulating them from competition by upstart innovators that want to show consumers how things can be done better and more cheaply.

That the FCC would even consider such a deal is a shocking departure from Chairman Genachowski's earlier pledge to safeguard the open Internet, and we need to light up the phones at the FCC to break up these meetings or give the public the biggest seat at the table.

It’ll only take you five minutes, and it could help make or break the future of the open Internet. And once you hang up, do one more thing: Submit a written comment to the FCC urging it to stick to its original plan to protect Net Neutrality and deliver broadband across the country.