Internet neutrality: the fightback continues
Donald Trump’s plans to end network neutrality, which began immediately after his arrival at the White House through the appointment of Ajit Pai, a former Verizon attorney and lobbyist, as director of the FCC, are to be met with a day of mobilization and action on the internet on July 12, when a large number of pages will display slogans in favor of net neutrality, and that is being also backed by giants like Google or Facebook.
I envy the way Americans are able to mobilize and organize to fight important issues like this. The struggle for net neutrality has managed to bring together a good part of civil society in a campaign backed by the most significant internet companies, and that the media will not be able to ignore. Let’s not forget: network neutrality is what avoids an all-encompassing internet controlled by telecommunication companies, who would be able to slow down some sites or privilege others depending on financial agreements, blocking or sending’ information in tranches with different prices, effectively isolating them: the opposite to what the internet is and represents.
On July 12, Americans will encounter banners or other forms of protest on web sites that allow them to send a letter to their representatives in Congress and the Senate requesting that Donald Trump’s plans be stopped. In Europe, where civil society doesn’t seem to have this awareness of mobilization, these types of initiatives are impossible to organize, meaning the lobbies organized by companies with ample budgets end up doing what they please.
Over the years, I have participated in countless campaigns to try to defend civil rights on the internet in Spain. I have come to be considered an “interference” in the Senate after presenting a motion calling on the government to protect internet neutrality (a move that the government completely ignored, further proof of the poor health of this country’s democracy), and I am increasingly pessimistic about the capacity for mobilization of the society I live in.
The fight in the United States for internet neutrality is getting dirtier, with telecommunications companies flooding the site that the FCC was obliged to set up to log public opinion with thousands of fake comments created by bots with the names of users who, in many cases, denied any involvement.
On July 12, many Americans will carry out a day of protest to defend the neutrality of the internet, so that it can remain a place where good ideas can prosper independently of whoever is behind them, and in which one click is equal to another click and always arrives at its destination at the speed you have paid for, without anyone else being able to get a better deal by negotiating preferential at your expense.
July 12 will be a day of struggle in defense of civil rights; we will have to see how the Trump administration responds. So don’t be surprised if you find information and videos before a page is load: the Americans are defending important matters that in other parts of the world we do not know how to mobilize or defend.
(En español, aquí)
