In June of this year, thousands of protestors all over the United States of America marched against the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed legislation which could compromise net neutrality (Vox, 2017). Actions undertaken for the purpose of the protest were profoundly initiated by an online community called ‘Battle for the Net’, which is an online community of people fighting for equal treatment of all Internet users (Battle for the Net, 2017).
If you might have not heard of the news before, it might be important to first explain what net neutrality entails. Net neutrality refers to the principle that Internet service providers, such as Comcast and AT&T, enable anyone, regardless of the source, to access online content without discriminating against particular websites or applications (Lohr, 2017).
In 2015, under the presidency of Obama, legislation protecting net neutrality were passed, yet President Trump has once again rekindled the discussion (HuffPost, 2017). In an official statement, the administration of President Trump announced its ambitions to overthrow this legislation and reverse the status of broadband Internet as a common carrier utility service (Lohr, 2017).
A key implication of such decision making would be that Internet service providers will be able to distribute internet speed according to the amount paid by the companies behind these websites. As a result, start-ups or smaller parties involved will be at a disadvantage due to their limited funds. Therefore, I believe net neutrality is crucial to the very existence of online start-up players. By enabling Internet service providers to for example lower website loading times or block users from certain content, legislation will allow these providers to strongly influence online user behaviour.
The FCC previous defence to allegations in 2014, during the first wave of net neutrality activism, is that they will still offer ‘baseline’ service to all Internet players and thus is not ‘gutting the Open Internet Rule’ (Edwards, 2014). In recent reports, one may recognize a similar notion. In Edward’s opinion, if some larger online players with deep pockets will receive more than baseline service as long as they pay more, this baseline service will still be at the lowest (possible) service level, thus hurting those who lack financial resources.
Personally, I believe any such legislation will prove to be a deterioration to the innovative culture start-ups bring to a nation, and more importantly, to the means we have provided these entrepreneurs with – the Internet as a key channel. However, as I am very interested in your opinions concerning net neutrality, please leave a comment!
References
Battle for the Net. 2017. Homepage. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.battleforthenet.com/. [Accessed 19 October 2017].
Edwards. 2014. Here’s a Simple Explanation of Net Neutrality And How It Affects You — In Plain English. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/simple-explanation-of-net-neutrality-2014-4?international=true&r=US&IR=T. [Accessed 19 October 2017].
HuffPost. 2017. Net Neutrality in 2017 – What You Should Know. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/net-neutrality-in-2017-what-you-should-know_us_599debf0e4b06d67e334fa94. [Accessed 19 October 2017].
Lohr. 2017. Net Neutrality Is Trump’s Next Target, Administration Says. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/technology/net-neutrality.html. [Accessed 19 October 2017].
Vox. 2017. Today’s net neutrality protest is a last stand in a fight that could change the internet. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/7/12/15952166/net-neutrality-protest-2017-battle-for-net-fcc-changes. [Accessed 19 October 2017].
I would like to thank you for bringing up the interesting topic of net neutrality. I have a few similar opinions and would like to shortly compare this issue to what occured within the E.U. In regards to the U.S, last year the european union strengthened their net neutrality by requiring all internet
service providers to treat web traffic equally. This was after three very long years of negotiations by academics,
activists, journalists etc. One of the several NGO’s (a coalition between seven NGOs) ‘savetheinternet’ was established to uphold net neutrality. With massive campaigning activities, they were able to successfully achieve their goal. Most importantly, the final guidelines say: Commercial blocking and throttling services are not allowed.
Some issues are currently unresolved. One of these important issues is the so-called ‘zero-rating’, which is the practice of making data of a certain type more or less expensive as compared to another. I personally believe that net neutrality is very important, and that campaigning around the issue is crucial. Not only do I believe that net neutrality affects businesses, but it also affects us (the consumers) However, when seeing how often I come across the topic on social media, I am hopeful that the U.S will manage to continue on the right path, much like the E.U.
sources:
https://epicenter.works/content/how-we-saved-the-internet-in-europe
https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/30/12707590/eu-net-neutrality-rules-final-guidelines-berec