NET NEUTRALITY: What It’s All About

Why We Need Net Neutrality by Staff at Vimeo.com

“We cannot allow internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas” -President Obama, November 10, 2014.

Net neutrality is “the principle that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and governments regulating the internet must treat all data on the internet the same, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.” ~Wikipedia

Illustration in two parts. In each, a cartoon girl wearing a bow and glasses is sitting in an office chair with a laptop on her lap and mobile device in her hand. On the left, she is shown in gray-scale frowning with a black and gray background of a few internet and technology-based symbols, arrows, and lines that are disconnected. On the right, she is smiling, in color with a yellow background of more internet and technology-based symbols, arrows, and lines that are this time connected. Her phone and laptop are shown to also be communicating. Credit: EFF.org, the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

There is a proposed policy change by the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Ajit Pai, happening now that would roll back the Open Internet rules put in place during the Obama administration. It threatens Net neutrality and the freedom of the internet. We’re currently in the period of public comment before this is finalized.

Public Comment Period Ends August 17th, 2017

Step-by-step instructions on how to make your voice heard can be found in the April 27th, 2017 TechCrunch article: How to comment on the FCC’s proposal to revoke net neutrality.

This change and the debate surrounding it are very important because the freedom and openness of the internet as we’ve known it is under threat. The internet is fundamental to the 21st-century economy, and some even say it is as essential to functioning in modern society as electricity. It really is a public utility.

“On one side, consumer advocates, the FCC’s Wheeler and President Obama, say reclassifying broadband as a public utility-like service is necessary to make sure the FCC has the legal basis to enforce rules protecting an open internet. An open internet means no fast lanes or slow lanes of service.

On the other side of the debate are the cable operators and phone companies, like AT&T and Verizon, who say now — as they did in 1999 — that old style regulation will hurt their investment in the infrastructure need to build out the networks through which they deliver internet service to your computer, smartphone and other gadgets.” -Marguerite Reardon, Net neutrality: How we got from there to here, Cnet, February 24, 2015.

Photo of my remote workstation while I did research for this article. Pictured are my laptop open on a desk (left) next to a larger monitor with keyboard and mouse below. On the screens are various windows with tabs open to research for Net neutrality, including parts of other illustrations used here, a terminal window, and various stacked windows with my signature bright blue & purple desktop background behind it all. Above is a shelf with artwork. Credit: Ashley Sherwood.

Below is a brief timeline of how things have gone down:

2003

Law Professor Tim Wu first uses the phrase “Network neutrality” in his law review paper, ‘Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination’.

2004

Madison River Communications is fined by the FCC for restricting their customers’ access to Vonage, a rival of their services.

2007

Comcast blocks BitTorrent.

2008

FCC orders Comcast to stop its discrimination.

2010

The FCC issues the Four Principles of the Open Internet Order:

1. Freedom to access content.
2. Freedom to run applications.
3. Freedom to attach devices.
4. Freedom to obtain service plan information.

2012

AT&T blocks FaceTime unless you are subscribed to one of their particular plans.

Public interest groups Free Press, Public Knowledge, and New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute notify AT&T of their intent to file a formal Open Internet complaint to the FCC, so AT&T agrees to stop blocking FaceTime.

2014

After a legal challenge from Verizon, the 2010 FCC rules are overturned.

Comedian John Oliver brings the Net neutrality debate to the masses when he airs a 13-minute rant about Net neutrality, asking anyone on the internet to flood the FCC with comments. In total, more than 4 million public comments were filed on this Net neutrality proposal.

2015

FCC passes new, Title II Net neutrality rules.

2016

Oral Arguments are brought up to challenge the Open Internet Order and Public Knowledge attorneys defend the FCC’s legal authority to create Net neutrality rules.

2017- MAY

The FCC votes to begin the rollback of Net neutrality regulations- 90 day comment period begins.

John Oliver revives his “signature fight“ about Net neutrality.

Photo is a screenshot of a false pop-up modal, for a “Blocked” website, which was used on various sites on July 12, 2017, as part of Battle For the Net’s Day of Action to showcase what could happen if Net neutrality is overturned. The pop-up reads, “BLOCKED” in large red block letters like a stamp across the top. Below, there is a blue & black made-up logo for “atcast™: a subsidiary of Cox.bs,” and the text: “Upgrade to our Premium Internet Bundle to access blocked sites.” There is another block of text below that with a red background and white block letters reading ”PREMIUM INTERNET BUNDLE $199.99.” The last line reads, “INCLUDES FULL ACCESS TO BLOCKED SITES AND SERVICES.” Credit: EFF.org.

Net Neutrality: A Landmark Issue

Many people agree that this is an important landmark in the history of the internet, but there seems to be no simple answer or solution. It’s a complex problem, and it seems that collaboration from both sides is essential for an acceptable solution.

As the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says, “There’s no silver bullet for Net neutrality. The FCC order plays a role by forbidding ISPs from meddling with traffic in certain ways. But transparency is also key: ISPs must be open about how traffic is managed over their networks in order for both users and the FCC to know when there’s a problem. Local governments can also play a crucial role by supporting competitive municipal and community networks. When users can vote with their feet, service providers have a strong incentive not to act in non-neutral ways. We want the internet to live up to its promise, fostering innovation, creativity, and freedom. We don’t want regulations that will turn ISPs into gatekeepers, making special deals with a few companies and inhibiting new competition, innovation and expression.”

Be sure to let the FCC know what you personally think about Net neutrality by posting at https://dearfcc.org/.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments or tweet at us @sealablife.

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