From Net Zero to Net Neutrality, and then back

It was 2001, and I had received my first NetZero promotional CD in the mail that promises 10 free hours of internet per month. Ten. Full. Hours. My parents were working class and had to make hard decisions between food and clothing, so services like “Internet” was a superfluous luxury.

In the computer lab at school, I used AskJeeves, then AltaVista, then later Google, as a homework tutor, while both my parents were working.

What initially was indeed was a trival medium of communication — a tool to chat with friends over AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) — over the years, became a place we communities evolve anslowly changed into a necessity as the cost of access become affordable and accessible.

We are approaching 2018, and most would consider the internet not as a luxury, but a necessity. To clarify, when I speak of the “internet”, I am talking of the whole ecosystem, both the software and the hardware: the vast network of information, the actual physical servers in multiple countries and cities, the fiber optic cables, and most importantly, you. You, in the sense of, you —and us — the users, who create content and consume content.

The internet as not only become accessible, but invisible — like the air we breathe. Because of this invisibility, we almost take equal access for granted. I am talking about both equal access to the internet and along with equal access to the same information while using the internet to connect with others through social media apps. And if we really don’t pay attention to the passing of Net Neutrality —we have to lose both in quality and quantity as content creators and consumers.

If the internet is an information highway, then the passing of the Net Neutrality rule will put up virtual toll booths to create a multi-tiered system for riders. Those who have deep pockets have a pass that allow them to ride fastest lane, without any stops. The rest of us will grumble in the beginning and pay up our quarters and dollars. Besides, what is the alternative, if there is only one, perhaps, two roads to take?

How many times in the last week have we all attended an event, only because we learn about it though Facebook events, or referred from a friend who have seen it in the same platform?

In the last year, the mass mobilization effect of social media networking to organize marchers — the Founder of the Women’s March met once, and mobilizing $$$ of women internationally, what 50 years ago, would have taken *** to *** of people. Both side of the political aisle relies on Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter to mobilizing their base.

When channels like Comcast and AT&T invest in publications and the content creation industry, it would make percent sense for them to limit the bandwidth of their competitors. This have tremendous raminifacations, both on a cultural level, but also a political level for digital organizers.

What if the base of our constituents are low-income, people of color, who once again, must make the decision of putting food on the table, but this time paying for basic versus premium Internet? Basic might mean 29.99 a month with just browsing services like email, while add-ons for video-streaming and gaming will both cost an extra 4.99 on top of basic payment. [1]

What we do know is our base, our constituents, are still subject to the golden rule of User-Experience: if a page takes more than 3–4 seconds to load, then organizers just lost our base [2].

The passing of Net Neutrality should put national organizations on edge because their model, like many national political organizations, dedicate a large amount of resources on digital organizing. The restructuring of how cable companies can charge people, as well are deliver or block network speed, affect our ability to outreach to our constituents.

The election and presence of fake news on Facebook have brought up critical questions on the validity of information we consume. The silver lining is at least people are aware — and have evidence — of the existence of these fake articles. At least we have equal footing contend political discourse on these public forums. However, with Net Neutrality, we are talking about total omission of articles from your feed because cable and internet companies now do not have to disclose their preferences on who they blacklist.

That’s like saying not only will you still have to pay tolls, but even if you do, sometimes they’ll let you through, other times, you’ll be cut off completely. Yes, you have to just park there and wait.

When Congress return to vote on Net Neutrality next week, we all consider safeguarding the current measures to allow access of equal information online. When it comes to the net, one cannot be neutral.

References:

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/net-neutrality-portugal-how-american-internet-could-look-fcc-2017-11

[2] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/powers-of-10-time-scales-in-ux/