Net Neutrality has been in the news off and on for the past several years, and it’s something that many people don’t understand and generally just ignore. I’m here to say that you should definitely NOT ignore it and it could have a very big impact on the way you get the Internet
What is Net Neutrality
The European Parliament passed a law in April of 2014 that defined it this way.
“Net neutrality” means the principle according to which all internet traffic is treated equally, without discrimination, restriction or interference, independently of its sender, recipient, type, content, device, service or application. ((http://gigaom.com/2014/04/03/european-parliament-passes-strong-net-neutrality-law-along-with-major-roaming-reforms/))
Another article describes it as
… the simple concept that the company that provides you internet access on your phone and at your house should be a utility — like a phone company. It should deliver you the information you ask for at the speed you are promised without playing favorites or blocking or degrading services. ((https://medium.com/p/7805f8049503))
It’s the way that the Internet has always worked and one of the things that has allowed it to grow so rapidly. While the individual lines may be owned by company A or B, they have always treated the data the same and that means consistency and open access. This has made the Internet a powerful tool for reaching an audience that would have required millions of dollars only 15 years ago.
What can happen if it goes away
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week proposed a new rule that allows Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to offer a faster lane for sending video and other content to consumers, as long as a publisher is willing to pay for it. ((https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/04/fccs-new-rules-could-threaten-net-neutrality)) Faster internet may sound good, but the “fast lane” they are talking about is the current, unfettered pipes versus ones where website traffic is slowed down unless their owners pay the ISPs extra. If they are allowed to make these changes, it’s going to result in subtle but important changes in the way the internet works.
Less innovation by new companies
Those that publish online and choose not to pay these new fees won’t be blocked, but their content will come through at slower, less reliable speeds. That cost will be easy to pass on to customers for the large, established companies, and they will. But new companies wanting to have their content delivered at the same quality as the big, established companies, are going to have some serious extra start-up costs now. They will also have to get approval from the ISPs to get on the faster service meaning less competition on merit and more based on money and backroom deals. That will inevitably reduce the number of new services and competition we see.
Less niche markets
The Internet has made been a boon for niche markets. While a woman who sells painted ceramic otter plates probably won’t make a living with a store in the mall; when she goes online, selling to the world, that’s a much bigger audience and she only needs a tiny percentage of them to buy her products to make a living. That means more niche markets and more people can enjoy the interests they share with small groups. Raising the cost of publishing and selling online will reduce the number of niche markets that are viable.
Why should I care
You may be saying: “What do I care as long as I get my Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, whatever”. If the idea of less innovation and competition isn’t reason enough, let’s be honest, these new costs will be passed on to us, the consumers. Either through higher Netflix fees, higher prices at Amazon, more ads on YouTube, and more selling of your data by Facebook. This is all on top of the fact that you all ready pay for the ISPs pipes! Your monthly Internet bill is paying for the pipes this data goes across, it’s unlikely they’ll give you a break on your bill.
Ok smart guy, how should it be done
A Federal Appeals court earlier said that the FCC could enforce net neutrality, but only if it classified the ISPs as common carriers like the phone lines. This is a route that worked in 1996 to bring more competition when it resulted in a huge explosion of new phone options. ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996)) We need the same thing today for the Internet. Obviously this is not what ISPs want, and in a strange coincidence, the newly appointed head of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, is a former lobbyist for the cable and wireless companies ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wheeler_(FCC)) ).
Those of you who know my small government leanings may be wondering why I’m in favor of yet another law. I will say that in a marketplace with lots of options for Internet access, this kind of regulation wouldn’t be needed. But with over 77% of Americans’ only option for Internet being their local cable monopolies, competition is small. ((http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/01/12/261924972/internet-in-america-an-on-again-off-again-relationship)) Sure it’s expensive to put cable in the ground, but in many cases, local governments make new installations twice as expensive, or block them all together. So yes, I hate to see government stick it’s nose in anything new, but when they’ve had a hand in getting us into that mess, blocking true competition, they’d better help clean up.
What can I do?
Currently the FCC has free reign over this area, and apparently they believe Net Neutrality should die. The only real recourse now is to pass a law enforcing Net Neutrality standards. Contact your representative in Congress and let them know you value an open Internet. Way back in 2007, candidate Obama promised to do this in his first year, ((http://www.cnet.com/news/obama-pledges-net-neutrality-laws-if-elected-president/)) but we all should know how much weight presidential promises hold. You can sign a petition to push the White House to address this issue. Since I first wrote this, the FCC has opened an email address for public comments, so please send your thoughts to openinternet@fcc.gov. Finally, if this isn’t enough information about the situation, you can find a longer and more complete article from Ryan Singel.
The final thing you can do is to keep this on your radar. It may sound like technical mumbo jumbo, but it’s an import matter than can have serious impacts on the Internet that has changed so many things about how we live our lives.