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Net Neutrality

Introduction

Internet Neutrality is fairness on the internet—simply put. It’s a principle that states the government should mandate Internet Service Providers (ISP) to treat all data on the internet fair; to not discriminate or charge absurdly by user, content, website, platform, or method of communication. Under this principle, ISPs can’t intentionally block, slow down or charge for specific websites or online content. But, on December 14th, 2017, under Chairman Ajit Pai, the commission decided to partially repeal the order—but what does this mean for the general consumer?

History or Internet Neutrality and the United States

The term Internet Neutrality was coined by a professor at the Colombia University, Tim Wu. In 2003, Wu used the term as an extension of the longstanding concept of a common carrier, which was used then to describe the role of telephone systems. In 2005, then FCC Chairman Kathleen Abernathy, began adopting the policies and principles of “network neutrality”. This was done in order “to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the internet” and “promote continued development of the internet,” “encourag[ing] the development on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability”—broadband— “to all Americans.” Along with it’s competitive factor, Congress also cited the internet’s educational and informational importance, stating it represents “a forum for true diversity and political discourse, unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad avenues for intellectual activity,” along with it “play[ing] an important role in the economy as an engine for productivity growth and cost savings.” To ensure this, the commission adopted neutrality principles.

The fight about neutrality didn’t start in 2017 however. Shortly after these policies where adopted, corporations on both sides of the arguments began lobbying Congress. Between 2005 and 2012, several attempts at network neutrality failed to pass through Congress, each seeking to preserve the open internet. Large ISPs challenged the FCC’s principles. Verizon, for example, in 2014 argued that since the FCC classified broadband ISPs as providing “internet service” rather than “common carrier services” the commission could not regulate ISPs and were subsequently struck down.

The FCC, steadfast in their conviction that the internet should be a fair place for all consumers, sought to reclassify ISPs as common carriers. To do this, the solicited responses from the community and received nearly four million comments, most of which supported the reclassification. With that amount of support from the public, the FCC reclassified ISPs as common carriers and on February 15th, 2015, ruled in favor of internet neutrality. On April 13th, 2015, the final rule on “net neutrality’ regulations were published. These rules went into effect on June 12th, 2015.

The Argument For and Against Net Neutrality Today

Current FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai—who was appointed by current President of the United States, Donald J. Trump—sought to repeal internet neutrality. After soliciting responses from the public as did the Commission in 2015, received 20 million comments this time regarding the policies. During this time, Eric Schneiderman, New York Attorney General, began investigating a large amount of the responses, claiming that they may have been fraudulent—the FCC refused to assist him in his investigation. It has since been reveled that a great majority of these comments were in fact fraudulent, however on December 14th, 2017 the FCC voted 3-2—along party lines—against the 2015 vote. Many challenged the comment process, stating that in the face of evident corruption, the ruling was in valid.

Major tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft to several civil rights groups such as the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are all in favor for net neutrality. They argue that the internet should be open and accessible for all. ISPs should not be able to throttle certain services over others.

On the other side, government officials and ISPs are all against net neutrality. Some argue that people who can and are willing to pay more for the services they frequent should have that option and not be slowed down by someone using internet lines for heavy, nonsensical, casual use. Another huge argument is the free market—the idea that prices can be determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses.

3-2—Along Party Lines

Ajit Pai, is a telecommunications director who’s served on the FCC since being appointed by President Obama in 2012. In January 2017, under President Trump’s administration, he was designated the chairman and in March 2017, President Trump re-nominated him for another five-year term. Before his appointment however, he held other positions in government and—most notably—Verizon Communications.

“One of the major issues lies in the monopoly that the top internet service providers have on access.” Verizon, along with Comcast, Charter and AT&T make up “about 76 percent of the 94.5 million internet subscribers in the United States”—71.8 million people. These companies have much to gain. “The net neutrality fight has pitted [these] large ISPs who stand to gain financial benefit against tech companies, small business advocates, civil liberties activists, and everyday consumers.”

Surprisingly, many people who politically identify as republican “overwhelmingly like net neutrality. The GOP candidates for president [did] not.” According to a poll, “Republican voters approve of government action to ensure that Internet service providers treat all web content the same.” Texas Senator Ted Cruz thought otherwise, stating that internet neutrality was “Obamacare for the Internet.”—which seems to be one of the biggest argument made by republican officials.

Net Neutrality: Internet Fairness at its Core

Net neutrality became effective during President Obama’s second term and as the same with Obamacare, Republican politicians are going to oppose it. It has been found that “Republican voters often say they don’t like “net neutrality,” but they say they like it when the issue is explained to them.” Extreme right conservative voters thought “the government should take action to ensure that cable companies aren’t allowed to “monopolize the Internet” by charging some companies more to access customers”—and that is net neutrality at its core.

“Net neutrality is the idea that internet traffic should be treated equal by internet service providers.” This means that ISPs should not throttle—deliberately slow down—or give priority to certain packets of information for whatever reason.

Net neutrality prevents ISPs from charging online services from charging for “fast lanes.” “Fast lanes” is a term that suggests a non-throttled connection between the provider of the online service and the consumer. Companies like Netflix and Hulu, along with popular video game services like PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live avoid having to pay for “fast lanes” under net neutrality. Conversely, these same companies that charge for “pay-to-pay” content, though it may seem like such content would go against the principles of net neutrality, are incentivized to because it can help them improve their overall service.

Net neutrality prevents discrimination of users by ensuring the same access and information for everyone in society. Without net neutrality, things like entertainment or advertisements—anything that makes to most money at the time—may be pushed to users say over educational content.

Most importantly, net neutrality promotes freedom of choice. Because all ISPs are on as even a playing field as possible, customers have freedom to choose whatever they want without being incentivized by numbers. However, regulation imposing net neutrality limits business ideas and concepts—it literally contradicts the idea of a “free market.”

Think of the internet as one big train station, with each ISP being the company that owns the tracks and small businesses being the trains that travel these tracks. ISPs provide the gateway for these smaller businesses to reach their customers. Net neutrality states that, if Netflix is carrying five trains worth of cargo contrary to Snapchat’s two trains of cargo, AT&T or Comcast is strictly prohibited from charging Netflix and their customers more for their heavier cargo. Without net neutrality, if AT&T wanted to, they could charge Netflix and their costumers more for their strenuous use of bandwidth—theoretically.

In Conclusion: The Pros of the Repeal

So now that net neutrality has been repealed, what does that mean for consumers? For one, the idea that we’ll all be charged copious amounts for internet access is ludicrous—the internet is still neutral. ISPs are regulated by other laws to keep the internet free of anything illegal that may worry consumers. Additionally, if websites that run blogs, services, and businesses abide by the law they can operate legally. Companies are incentivized to innovate. ISPs can now adequately protect consumers against DoS attacks and piracy. The concept of “fast lanes” can be used to give health and emergency services dedicated bandwidth, instead of being treated the same as video gamers or people who frequently stream porn. And most importantly, proper laws can be drafted regarding the throttling—or lack thereof—of bandwidth.

Bibliography

1)     “Net Neutrality.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Apr. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality

2)     “Net Neutrality in the United States.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Apr. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality_in_the_United_States#Positions.

3)     Edwards, Haley Sweetland. “Why 2016 Republicans Oppose Net Neutrality.” Time, Time, 13 Mar. 2015, time.com/3741085/net-neutrality-republicans-president/.

4)     Abbruzzese, Jason. “Republicans Are Coming out with a 'Net Neutrality' Plan That Will Only Please Internet Providers.” Mashable, Mashable, 19 Dec. 2017, mashable.com/2017/12/19/republican-net-neutrality-bill/#yTSwfAC7lOqg.

5)     Abbruzzese, Jason. “Republicans Are Coming out with a 'Net Neutrality' Plan That Will Only Please Internet Providers.” Mashable, Mashable, 19 Dec. 2017, mashable.com/2017/12/19/republican-net-neutrality-bill/#yTSwfAC7lOqg.

6)     “Net Neutrality: The Pros And Cons.” FlashRouters Networking & VPN Blog, 7 Dec. 2017, www.flashrouters.com/blog/2017/12/08/net-neutrality-the-pros-and-cons/.