The Importance of Net Neutrality: a Take on Librarianship, Equity of Information & Why This Matters
If you’ve been on the internet lately you’ve probably seen the articles, the tweets, and the other posts about net neutrality and how on December 14th the FCC will vote on Ajit Pai’s proposal to remove net neutrality. In short, the removal of net neutrality would give broadcasting and cable companies to create a means to add more barriers to access to information — I will talk more about this later. But first, what gives? Well, to be frank, you’re reading this article because of net neutrality. As a librarian, I believe that access to all information is crucial, and providing access to all information is necessary for intellectual freedom. Information is not just tied directly to books, but to what we find, read, and consume on the internet.
Equity of Information
Net neutrality has had an interesting past. What is Net Neutrality and the LA Times have timelines to that follow the history of how net neutrality became what it is today. As technology continues to move forward at a rapid pace, net neutrality is an important component of freedom of access to information. Information is floating online everywhere, about every topic, and the beauty is that right now at this very moment, Americans who have access to the internet have access to it all because of net neutrality. Take it from the FCC themselves, on their online guide, they mention that net neutrality protects consumers in the following ways :
Blocking: Broadband providers may not block access to lawful content, applications, services or non-harmful devices.
Throttling: Broadband providers may not deliberately target some lawful internet traffic to be delivered to users more slowly than other traffic.
Paid prioritization: Broadband providers may not favor some internet traffic in exchange for consideration of any kind. ISPs are also banned from prioritizing content and services of their affiliates.
Thus, net neutrality has afforded many Americans the opportunity to access whatever they want online, without restrictions. When I think of the application of net neutrality and the implications that it has in the library field, I directly reflect on how public libraries are the life source for many families and communities for access to information. Due to high costs for internet subscriptions, public libraries have served as places where individuals of all ages have access to the internet. In fact, in 2016 Pew Research found that
45% of library users between the ages of 16 and 29 used computers, the internet or the library’s Wi-Fi.
Net neutrality has allowed public library users to access information on the internet.
When it comes to net neutrality and libraries, the American Library Association has continually supported net neutrality. In the wake of the news that Pai would like to remove net neutrality, ALA President Jim Neal stated that that the removal of net neutrality would have major effects on the way that information is accessed and would change how libraries provide access to information.
What Would the Internet in America Look Like Without net neutrality?
The removal of net neutrality would mean that in order to access information, broadband and telecom companies could theoretically charge consumers a la carte for access. This would mean that every website that you use (i.e. Google, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Youtube, news sites, etc.) could charge you to use it. Business Insider wrote about how Portugal’s internet looks like without net neutrality. The MIT Technology Review wrote about what the removal of net neutrality would look like, and how removing net neutrality would effectively allow broadband companies to prioritize company owned data.
From a librarian and reference stand-point, the removal of net neutrality poses the risk of changing how we answer and find information for our library users and could possibly change the search methods that we retrieve information and instruct users how to find information. If you want to see what removing net neutrality looks like for yourself, there’s even a Google Chrome add-on to simulate the potential effects.
What Can I Do to Help?
The FCC votes on December 14th, which means that there is still time. Right now, the best thing that I think we can do is to tell our congressmen and Chairman Pai our stories about how the open internet has helped us access information and how it has benefited our communities because, without Net Neutrality, the internet that we know now might become a distant memory.
Here are some ways to advocate to keep an open internet:
Email Tools
- The ALA has an email tool that will contact your congressmen and Chairman Pai in just a few steps.
- The Battle for the Net also has an email tool that will send emails out for you to ask Congress to put a stop to the removal of net neutrality.
Save the Internet Toolkit
- Save the Internet has a Toolkit to help give individuals an idea of what they can do to save net neutrality.
This article was brought to you by net neutrality.
