Net Neutrality

Henry Zhang

1/26/2020

“I spent hours trying to post my opinion last night only to have the internet police block it again.”

“Good grief Riley. Who would ever want to advocate for someone who wants to raise the taxes of the rich? Anyways, why is it that your internet is always so slow? Mine loads everything in an instant.”

“Do you really think the lower 90% have the ability to pay for faster internet Sammy?”

“I completely forgot that I had more money than you.”

“That’s not the only issue. While the ideas of internet companies and richer people like you are getting pushed around like propaganda, the ideas of people like me are getting more and more restricted.”

“It seems like I’m living my best life. Can’t say the same for you and the other 90% Riley.”

“I wonder if the world was always as baloney as this Sammy.”

Sammy and Riley continue to walk down the streets, which are all shielded from the sun by the dominating mega-corporation skyscrapers. These mega-corporations influence politics and pull the strings of society, almost as if they were playing god. It’s like a scene out of a cyberpunk novel.

This could very well be our future. The internet today is very much a free place. It was created by the influence of the ideas from the Enlightenment and our founding fathers. A free press, free speech, and free assembly are all luxuries of the internet that everyone has access to in this level playing field. “Net neutrality” is a key internet principle that supports these ideas, by providing everyone equal access and equal speeds on the internet. But with the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality on June 11, 2018, our freedoms could very well be taken away and the internet could be very much be plunged into a feudal society where the “nobility” is allowed the most access. In the end, the big winners are the “kings” of this scenario: the internet companies. Internet service providers, ISPs, like Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast will be swimming in their reservoirs of money while the rest of society struggles in the soon to be cesspool of the internet. The future of one of the greatest inventions in history is uncertain.

Today the world is very much socially active, especially on the internet which has amassed a user base of over four billion users according to the International Telecommunication Union. People on the internet are able to share and express their own opinions, no matter the issue and no matter the viewpoint. Everybody wants their point voiced and through the tool of influence they can gain an audience with almost no restrictions. But with ISPs attempting to repeal net neutrality, the very privilege to speak your thoughts on the internet is threatened. ISPs can very much act like the notorious secret police forces of modern-day authoritarian societies. Although we have not seen net neutrality in full effect with its ability to block and censor users from different types of content, we have seen other websites and services do it very much so. Social networks like FaceBook or Youtube have been known to cause controversy by subjecting itself to political bias. Blocking political parties they do not believe in, hiding news stories they deem unnecessary and promoting an influx of political ideas that they deem fit. Other countries have also shown the power of ISPs when it comes to restricting content. With a notable example being China and it’s so-called “Great Firewall of China”. In China, net neutrality is essentially dead. Chinese ISPs and the Chinese government ban everything they can get their hands on that they deem unfit and often arrest those who breach the internet laws, a fashion similar to the Thought Police in George Orwell’s 1984. According to the Chinese activist group Great Fire, China’s extreme Internet censorship policies have also led to the blacklisting of over ten thousand different websites ranging from Google to Facebook. With the ability to block millions from certain websites or from internet access as a whole, ISPs have a powerful weapon in their hands and instead of websites being what the people want to see, it will be what the ISPs want people to see instead. Some people depend on the internet to make a living or are required to use it all the time. If an ISP blocks somebody, they don’t just take away their access to entertainment, but their access to an entire fraction of their lives.

Speed is a fundamental asset in the world of the internet. With the repeal of net neutrality still trying to phase itself into the internet, access to websites are very much the same across the board, like a highway where every car can go at the same speed. But after it has been completely phased in, this highway will be much different. Rather than universal access for equal speeds, now there will be a fast lane and slow lane. Some people are privileged to faster internet speeds while others get left out in the dump. What is it that these ISPs want from people in order to give them privileges? What every other big business wants. Money. Money, Money, Money. Comcast pulls in a hundred billion a year, yet they want more. Verizon pulls in a hundred and thirty billion, yet they want more. AT&T pulls in a hundred and seventy billion a year, and yet they still want more and more. They all have enough to make massive pools of gold that would make the devious Scrooge McDuck look poor. Speaking in terms of business and money, innovation will also be hard hit and corrupted by the repeal of net neutrality. Small tech startups and businesses are definitely creating ingenuity in today’s world but that ingenuity could be very well dimmed by the rich juggernaut companies that can afford faster internet speed and are generally favored by the ISPs. In 2014, which is years before the issue of the net neutrality repeal came up, Comcast users found that Netflix’s streaming throttled to an almost inaccessible speed. According to Netflix, speeds had dipped over twenty percent during the time of this event. It was only when Netflix paid Comcast a hefty sum that they could return to normal and boosted speeds. Now imagine if a smaller website was hit by the same throttling? They would struggle to pay the fees a bigger company like Netflix could easily pay and with terrible throttling users will start to leave, causing a loss in potential profit. As this cycle continues and continues the stream of brilliant new ideas and websites will be stomped by the bigger corporations and their buddies, the ISPs. The internet will go from a brilliant melting pot of ideas into a jaded land being played by the invisible hands of the soon to be monopolies.

The total end of net neutrality is a possibility, however, it is not an inevitability. Although the force of the FCC and ISPs is certainly strong, the efforts of the people to prevent it have been just as strong. On January 16, 2018, twenty-one different states sued the FCC for breaching an open and fair internet. Several states have passed laws to keep net neutrality alive and unaltered by the FCC’s regulations with Washington being the first to prohibit ISP favoritism. New bills have also been created to combat the repeal with the ongoing Save the Internet Act gathering heavy support from dozens of congressmen and congresswomen.

The FCC’s fight against net neutrality will continue, as will the fight for it. This situation will continue to affect the internet for years and years until the final judgment will be made. As the stalemate fades away, we will find the true winner of this debacle. However, there is still much hope for the stability of net neutrality with the influence of shifting external politics and the support of state-level authorities increasing. In the end, it is the people who will provide the killing blow to the repeal through perseverance and sheer tenacity, just like they had for every single event of oppression and inequality in the past, present, and future.