Net neutrality: when activism makes a difference
That Britain’s John Oliver, presenter since 2014 of US hit late night talk show Last Week Tonight, dedicated pretty much an entire program to the topic of net neutrality is not in itself unusual: he already did so in June 2014 to explain to the average American what it meant and why it was so important, generating debate that ended up putting so much pressure on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), that it became one of the main organizations involved in its protection.
But times have changed. Barack Obama made safeguarding net neutrality one of his most important electoral promise, despite the doubts prompted by the arrival at the FCC of Tom Wheeler, a former telecommunications industry lobbyist, meaning telecommunication providers were unable either to privilege or slow down the traffic flowing through their networks.
With the arrival at the White House of Donald Trump, a dunce with not the slightest notion of what net neutrality means, but who has announced his intention to end it, the wind has changed direction. The appointment of Ajit Pai, formerly on Verizon’s payroll, clearly points to legislative changes that would allow telecom companies to do basically what they want.
That said, explaining net neutrality to the average person is not easy, with many people confused and thinking it has something to do with bandwidth. So Oliver’s decision to dedicate his program to the subject matter is very important, and more so at a time when the FCC itself, forced by law to submit the matter to public consultation, had made it as difficult as possible for people to comment on the issue. Oliver’s response was to set up the domain name gofccyourself.com, which would redirect to the corresponding page of the FCC website where people can log their opinion. His suggestion that people express their opinion about net neutrality via this means was widely taken up, so much so that the FCC’s page collapsed under the weight, something that had already happened in 2014.
FCC CIO David Bray attributed the fall of his page to a denial of service (DDoS) attack, and has condemned it, saying it prevents other people from writing their comments. In fact, the collapse of the FCC’s page had nothing to do with any kind of conspiracy, but was rather the effect of a mention on a highly popular television program and an appeal to the collective consciousness of internet users. In this sense, a DDoS is as legitimate as the right to demonstrate, which sometimes disrupts services such as transportation.
When it comes to defending concepts like net neutrality, having people like John Oliver, who understand its importance and who are willing to invest their time and effort to spread the word, is critical. This was activism via the mass media to explain a relatively complex idea in easy, simple and accessible language. Doing so with humor is a slam dunk. At a time when the defense of net neutrality was waning, John Oliver has succeeded in breathing new life into the debate.
Let’s hope that these protests consolidate and that once and for all, we begin to see internet neutrality as what it is: an inseparable, fundamental and necessary element completely linked to the very definition of the internet.
(En español, aquí)
